When data analyst Kathleen Niple graduated from Elon University in North Carolina, she wanted to move north and start her career in Boston. But it wasn't Elon's career services department that helped Niple with her move; rather, her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi (AOPi), proved to be her biggest asset.
"I went to school in the South. My alumni base was all in the South, but I wanted a job in Boston," Niple said. "AOPi was a great alternative because there were AOPi's in Boston, but there weren't necessarily people who went to my school up here."
For fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, graduating college may signal the end of rush events and formals, but connections to the Greek community can bring longer lasting benefits in the career world.
"Coming into sorority life, I never really thought about the implications after college," said senior Jessica Snow, the president of the Panhellenic Council and vice president of the Inter-Greek Council (IGC) at Tufts. "I just got done with three interviews. Being Greek really means something to someone else who is Greek. In my interviews, I met people who were Greek, [who] went to different schools, but it's this universal identity among anybody who's Greek. It's a way to have a great conversation knowing you have something in common with whoever you're talking to."
Niple, who currently serves as the advisor for the Tufts chapter of AOPi, said that although her current position was not the result of her sorority connection, it has been something that was helpful in the past.
"There were other jobs I interviewed for where my résumé was submitted by another AOPi and I think that's why I got an interview. It helps with putting my foot in the door," she said.
IGC President Jake Maccoby, a senior, said that he will potentially make fraternity connections in the future, and that he knows others who have already had networking success.
"I expect to do a little of that, and it's kind of looming large since I'm about to graduate," said Maccoby, who is also an editorialist for the Daily. "My housemate, who is also a brother in Sig Ep — he took a year off to work and ended up doing a job that he found out about through a former brother in Sig Ep. Those connections stay with you."
With hundreds of Greek chapters spanning the country, the potential to form links is endless. But chapter members said that for most people, career advancement was not the main reason for joining a fraternity or sorority.
"I can't speak for everybody, but that was certainly not my primary reason going in. It's not like we're a secret society that tries to get its people ahead," Maccoby said. "I think the main reason people go in is they want this close, tight-knit group and it has a lot of value for them."
"I think there are some people who do [join for career reasons], but a lot of people don't realize the benefit. It's one of those fringe benefits you realize when you're already in the community and you go on a job search," Snow said.
Even if their reasons are not solely career-based, Niple said that the desire to connect with a larger group of people goes hand-in-hand with networking skills.
"A lot of people are looking for an opportunity to meet new people either on campus or internationally. They sort of join to meet new people and just a product of meeting new people is you make connections," she said. "Even if you're just looking for a hairdresser in the city, you can ask an AOPi. Or if I'm looking for a job in California, other AOPi's can tell me, ‘This is where to go.' It's one of a lot of reasons that people join a sorority — each person has a different reason, so it's one of the many."
According to Snow, the "universal" nature of Greek connections has been what has stood out to her. She partially attributed several promising meetings and internship opportunities to sorority associations.
"It gives you another form of networking. It's not that different [from the Tufts Alumni Association], where you both know what it's like to go to Tufts. You know what to expect from a Greek; you know what the rituals are like," Snow said. "If you are in the Tufts network and the Greek network, then you have two awesome networks to build on."
But Maccoby said there is a definite distinction between university alumni networks and those of the Greek community.
"Partly I think it's an intimacy thing. What makes a fraternity different than the Tufts community, or a larger community, is it really is a family. That's how it's supposed to be, and in my experience, that's how it is. That is a connection that's very important and very hard to replicate," Maccoby said. "It's a very close connection based on a shared experience or a shared understanding of values, and it's something that you'll hold in common, and it's something very special. So it's on a more intimate level, in some ways, than a connection with a Tufts alum, which is obviously still helpful."
Though Greeks demonstrate very high achievement in the career world — for example, 48 percent of U.S. presidents have belonged to a fraternity, as have many Fortune 500 CEOs — networking may not be the only key to this success.
"First and foremost, fraternities and sororities have really, really wonderful leadership," Snow said. "Being a leader is an interesting experience because it forces you to be friends and leaders with the same people. It teaches you a relational leadership style that I'd never experienced before being a leader in my community and chapter that has been hugely helpful in developing career skills for me."
"When I was interviewing [for jobs], it was a like lot going through [sorority] recruitment," Niple said. "When you go to each house during recruitment, they're interviewing you and you're interviewing them."
Maccoby agreed, mentioning that many diverse people within a chapter have to work together towards the same goals.
"Those are skills you'll use forever," he said.
To augment these leadership skills, some chapters hold events or connect with alumni chapters in order to further facilitate networking opportunities. But a campus-wide effort to further Greeks' job options has not yet been implemented, though it is on the table.
"The Tufts community hasn't established great opportunities for networking yet, but we've talked a lot about it. It's on our strategic plan to be there in the next five years," Snow said. "Some individual chapters have established events where that can happen."
Niple mentioned a Web site for AOPi members called InCircle, which is similar to Facebook.com but exclusively allows sorority alumni to post job opportunities or send resumes.
"We also have a lot of joint alumni chapter/collegiate chapter events," she said. "The girls at Tufts have brunch with alumni or we have alumni come speak about their job and how they got there. They communicate, do events together, and then the girls meet the alumni in the area."
These types of activities will most likely be extended to the rest of Tufts chapters.
"It's definitely something that's been discussed more and more because the Greek community at Tufts has really come into its own," Maccoby said.
