Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image. More Coverage: Successful networking ... Online

University of Pittsburgh senior Emily Guzan is considering applying to seven or eight law schools and wanted to pick the brains of real-life attorneys for feedback about her future career and education.

So the Honors College student logged on to Pitt's Career Network, an online database of alumni who have agreed to help students, and typed in a customized search for attorneys who earned undergraduate or law degrees from Pitt.

Speaking in person or even over the phone wasn't a priority for the politics and philosophy major. "The most important part was to establish any kind of connection, and e-mail is the way that starts," she said.

Hers was among 10,000 searches conducted on the Pitt Career Network since students gained access to it in March. Though universities remain committed to live networking events and career fairs where students can mingle with alumni and seek job counseling, there's a significant shift toward mentoring in cyberspace.

"Twenty- and 30-somethings today operate in a virtual world," said Lois Zachary, president of Leadership Development Services in Phoenix and author of "The Mentor's Guide." Successful mentoring, she said, "has to align with where people are and what creates meaning for them. Most mentoring relationships today have a distance or e-mentoring component because that's how we talk to each other."

Besides the comfort level today's students and young graduates enjoy with e-mail, there are practical advantages to online mentoring, said Carol Muller, founder and chief executive officer of MentorNet, a San Jose, Calif.-based Web site targeted primarily for female and minority students pursuing engineering and science degrees. Its member schools include Carnegie Mellon University and Penn State.

"One big advantage of e-mentoring is that you can match people regardless of their location," said Ms. Muller. "With individuals' really busy schedules, the biggest reason mentoring programs fail is time and location restraints. There are no costs involved like there would be in a meeting."

There also are intangible benefits, she said. "Status differences make less of a difference in e-mail. You're not forming a conscious or subconscious impression based on what [the student or mentor] looks like or their physical attributes. You don't have to worry about what to wear, the security desk or getting past the secretaries."

It's true some people might miss human interaction if they communicate exclusively online, Ms. Muller said, acknowledging it's often "much more fun to sit down and have coffee or a meal together and laugh." But e-mentoring, and the process of writing, allows both sides to "get a little more to the heart of the matter. When you're writing, you're less likely'' to go off on a tangent.

Pitt's network was launched in July 2005, but access initially was limited to alumni as the university built a portfolio of graduates who agreed to provide online contact information.

In its first year, 2,700 alumni volunteered, including alums from all 50 states and 38 foreign countries, said Lee Patouillet, associate vice chancellor for alumni relations. The database organizes alumni in easy-to-search categories such as geographic location, industry, job title, job function, and groups they were active in while attending Pitt.

So a student who recently asked the alumni relations staff to help her find "people involved in real estate in Southern California" could search those specifics and get results quickly, Mr. Patouillet said.

Students pay nothing to use it; beginning Jan. 1, alumni must be members of the school's alumnus association to gain access to the network, though any alumni may be posted for free. "We'll use membership money to offset the costs," said Mr. Patouillet.

While Pitt's network is broad-based, some schools are creating online networks for students in specific majors or interest areas.

Chatham College, for example, recently tested an online pilot network to match students working on master's of business administration degrees with Chatham alumni anywhere in the world.

"There are no time or geographic restrictions, and our students are so e-mail-oriented, it's a huge comfort level for them," said Mary Riebe, professor of business and director of Chatham's Center for Women's Entrepreneurship. "It just happens I have an MBA program under me, but I strongly believe it could be done in any master's program."

Duquesne University is working to establish an online mentoring site for students in the military.

Those students already take courses online when they're deployed in Iraq and elsewhere, said Mary Jane Snyder, the school's director of military education programs. Ideally, the network would put them in touch with Duquesne graduates who also are enlisted or who have served in the military "because it's hard for civilians to understand some of the military situations" the students encounter.

"They're chatting about being able to attend classes successfully given the challenges they're experiencing."

The network also can benefit graduates planning to retire from the military, she said. Many military people leave at "around age 40, and then they're looking for a job."

Just because online mentoring doesn't result in job doesn't mean it doesn't help.

While he didn't land his current job through Pitt's online network, Brian Kavalukas, of Shadyside, said it was beneficial to converse with other alumni during his job search nearly a decade ago. The online network makes it easier to have those conversations, he said, and helps ease apprehensions about contacting professionals.

"There's a sense it can be difficult to approach someone older at a different place in life, said the manager of finance for the pet products division at DelMonte Foods Co., a 1996 business and political science graduate from Pitt who earned an MBA there a year later. "Via e-mail, students can express openness and personal views a little more freely."

Mr. Kavalukas now serves as a registered mentor and has received a handful of queries from current students. Because they are e-mails, he can "ascertain quickly whether I can help or not. If I get a question specific to me, like how to get into finance for a consumer goods company, I would meet with that person."

He recalls that when he was looking for job after graduating a decade ago, the concept of using the Internet for career help was in its infant stages. "I relied on newspapers."

Ms. Guzan, the Pitt senior for whom e-mail is second nature, heard back from all five of the attorneys she contacted in her first search. Two are in the city and invited her to shadow them at work. She recently had lunch with one.

"I've stayed in touch with a couple of them and I've connected with them for advice."