A Great Place to Land

Career mentorship can be pivotal for students looking to apply their classroom lessons to real-life scenarios as interns or graduates ready to jump start their professional lives.

The Redhawk Landing (RHL) is a new mentorship tool offered to Seattle University students and alumni, one that nurtures transformative connections.

Here’s how it works: Alumni serve as mentors for students and other alumni or they can utilize the site to find mentors of their own. Redhawk Landing provides outreach to alumni in a city or industry of interest, as well as ways for participants to join affinity groups or browse career resources and programs.

Redhawk Landing is a collaboration of the Career Engagement Office and the Office of Alumni Engagement, with representation from the Albers Placement Center, Center for Student Involvement, University Advancement and Athletics.

“Redhawk Landing provides an amazing virtual space for students and alumni to connect with each other in a dynamic community,” says Hilary Flanagan, executive director of the Career Engagement Office. “Students and alumni will be able to tap into the power of the Redhawk network for informal and micro-mentorship, as well sustained or more structured mentoring relationships. … The Redhawk Landing platform will also add an exciting interactive dimension to belonging at Seattle U.”

With RHL, both mentors and mentees indicate the type of mentoring relationship they are interested in—from a short phone call to a longer-term engagement—and their specific areas of interest to advance their professional journey. Mentees gain professional development, specific advice for their needs and a new perspective. Engaging on Redhawk Landing can be as easy as connecting over coffee, answering a few questions over email or video chatting. Alumni mentors choose their commitment level and preferred way to engage. 

“The connections I’ve built with fellow SU alumni have been pretty strong,” says Scott Newton, ’16. “And so, to me, this is another way to be able to have that type of connection with people that have had the same type of Jesuit education as I have.”

With the Class of 2020 entering the workforce, it is the perfect time for mentors to help them find a professional pathway and accelerate their career trajectory—all the more important considering the challenges presented by a global pandemic. 

“We welcome all of our alumni to consider sharing their experiences and insights with our students—the beauty of Redhawk Landing is that you can opt into a wide variety of ways to engage with current students and other alumni,” says Flanagan. “Beyond the one-on-one opportunities for interaction, there are also community spaces for identities and other interests.”

Office of Alumni Engagement contributed to this story.