Networking Success

For Alex Horn ’11, internships and the Mac alumni network helped his dreams come true. 

When Alex Horn ’11 (San Francisco) came to Mac, he had disparate and vague dreams for the future: He either wanted to become governor of California or get involved somehow in business.  

“While job hunting, I reached out to alumni and they did everything they could to help me.”
—Alex Horn ’11

But as he began taking classes toward his economics and political science majors, Horn realized that political economy was his true academic passion. And then—thanks largely to some valuable internships and a study abroad program in Hong Kong—marketing and brand management rose to the top of his interest list. Horn realized he had a real talent for marketing and wanted to work in that area following graduation.  

But how could he land a job? “I reached out to Mac alumni at all the major marketing powerhouses, and they almost universally did everything they could to help,” says Horn. 

Two alumni at Disney, in particular, took Horn under their wing and introduced him to a program at Disney Consumer Products in Los Angeles, where he joined the global Mickey Mouse brand management team. “Although Macalester does not have a traditional business program, my liberal arts education provided the knowledge and opportunities that gave me an edge, even over some candidates with more traditional training,” says Horn. “For example, my boss was intrigued by a consumer insights field project I’d developed for an anthropology course, and I think it helped me land the job.”

Horn has since moved on to Accenture, a global management consulting firm based in New York, where he is a consulting analyst helping to drive and implement the tech strategy for some of America’s largest companies. Once again, his Macalester education helped, he says. “My liberal arts background of constantly picking up new disciplines and concepts was a strong selling point to Accenture recruiters looking for versatile consultants.”