28 February 2022

Alumni from around the world have supported current students in recent weeks through a number of virtual sessions on securing employment in their part of the world.
Bringing a global perspective

Run by the Student Development Team with support from the Alumni Team, locations were selected to match the diversity of the MSc student population, and included South America, the USA, Africa, Southeast Asia, India, and Germany.

At each event, three or four alumni from the region shared their experience of securing employment. Panel members have tended to be recent alumni, particularly those who have had the additional challenge of securing work during the pandemic, but it's also been fruitful to include more experienced alumni working in HR roles who have been able to share their knowledge of current recruitment approaches.

Although we may all be suffering from Zoom fatigue to some extent, such events are a great illustration of how virtual activity can bring real value to the student experience and also enable alumni to contribute to the student experience, wherever they may be based.

"It is fantastic to have so many alumni coming back and sharing extremely valuable experience and advice with current students regarding their job search and career development," said Stella Wang, Student Development Manager.

"It is really inspiring to hear all the stories from different backgrounds all over the world. I can't thank them enough for their generosity to engage with the School and students."

One of the alumni involved in the US Alumni session was Allison Lawrence (MSc Marketing 2020). Allison is currently an Account Coordinator for Equator Design in Chicago. Reflecting on the event, she told us what it meant to be involved.

"I think, as an alum, it was beneficial for me to hear from the other alumni on the panel because that validated and reassured me of my own experience in trying to secure a role.

"Graduating into a pandemic was far from easy. And even though we all came back to America to seek work, securing work was still just as hard as it had been for me when I was still living in Edinburgh.

"In my personal experience, I felt when I was studying, there were sessions offered on how to secure work in the UK as an American. But it's fantastic that there are now sessions on supporting students on finding work in America, as I feel that a panel session such as this would have been a real comfort to me."

This is backed up by comments from students who attended some of the recent panel sessions, including:

I have gained a lot of useful information, which is very useful for relieving job-hunting anxiety, and now have a clearer preparation and timeline for finding a job.
Alumni shared a lot of useful information and Stella [Student Development Manager] helped a lot with summarising and organising. A very helpful event.

Volunteer to join an international panel

If you are interested in being involved in alumni panel sessions in the future, please register your interest with our Alumni Team.