Dedicate your Decade – develop through Alumni volunteering

Often with the start of a new year, and in this case a new decade, there is a time for reflection on the previous year/s, and setting plans and goals for the year ahead.

These goals and plans often can tend to be grandiose or unrealistic with a desire to change quickly and completely within moments of the countdown’s completion. By this point in January you may have even heard the phrase ‘New Year, New Me’ even more times than Brexit and be just as tired of hearing about it.

However, if you’re looking for something achievable that makes a real difference why not give volunteering a go? Volunteering as part of our alumni community can support your professional development, build your skill set and add to your CV, while helping to transform the lives of others.

Our volunteers help to enhance the student experience and improve career prospects, bring their industry expertise and insights to the curriculum, support the alumni community, and provide valuable strategic advice and guidance to University staff.

We have opportunities for you to volunteer from home, at work, or on campus. All opportunities are available to international alumni – those marked * could take place by Skype.

These include:

- Providing a Career Profile: Profiles provide valuable careers insights and top tips for getting into a wide range of industries – and then progressing. It’s a resource that students can dip in and out of and gives information to really help them stand out against the competition.

- Become a Career Mentor: The Career Mentor Scheme brings bright, enthusiastic students together with successful professionals in mutually beneficial mentoring partnerships. The Scheme gives students the opportunity to get an insight into their preferred employment sector and develop personal networks and employability skills.

- Offer careers advice: Could you offer informal careers advice by email to students and recent alumni who are looking for guidance in their choice of career and how to succeed in the world of work once they graduate?

- Speak at a Careers Talk*: Share your careers insights which can make all the difference to students struggling to identify the right career for them or to those applying to work in your field.

- Mock Interview*: Help students practice their interview techniques by acting as a recruiter at a mock interview on campus.

- Country Contact: Help to develop an alumni community in your country or region by acting as point of contact for fellow alumni, current and potential students, as well as visiting staff. Country Contacts can organise local activities and events to bring alumni together.

You can find more about all our volunteering opportunities online, and get in touch with any queries via alumni@exeter.ac.uk. We look forward to hearing from you and wish you well for the year/s ahead!

Date: 22 January 2020