SMC networking tool catching on

Saint Michael’s College’s new online networking and mentoring tool, called “SMC Connect,” on Thursday, July 12 surpassed the 1,000th new user since launching the week of Commencement, according to Angela Armour’99 M’09, director of alumni engagement for the Career Education and Alumni Engagement Center.

“We will plan to invite all juniors and seniors to join SMC Connect via their personalized link on or around August 1,” Armour said. “First-years and sophomores will need to meet with a Career Ed Coach prior to receiving an invitation.”

She further announced that all of the “Communities” within SMC Connect now have discussion boards so members can post discussion topics, read, and reply to threads. “They can also attach photos, videos and GIFS in an effort to share information and build community,” she said, noting that there is a “Code of Conduct” disclaimer in each of the Communities in an effort to ensure all posts are appropriate.

“We will do our best to make sure all topics are professional in nature. Facebook is still around for everything else,” Armour said.

She explained why alumni might choose SMC Connect over using LinkedIn: “When you sign up for SMC Connect you are agreeing to be contacted by another alum/student and your selected volunteer offerings are viewable to those you allow to see your profile. It gets rid of the need to connect first as you do on LinkedIn, which discourages students, in particular, from reaching out and getting the advice they seek. And it’s only for the SMC Community.”

“For now, this is the closest thing we have to an alumni directory and there will be some lag time before a complete alumni directory will be up and running,” she said, encouraging any alumni with questions to contact her directly at aarmour@smcvt.edu.

Here’s the link to the login for alumni who want to use or explore SMC Connect.