The Club’s members work in many different fields and collectively have many years of experience. Some club members have volunteered to provide advice and support to students and recent alumni to help with their career development. The members offer advice and information based on their personal experience.
How can you benefit?
We recommend that before contacting EDUCT you conduct some initial research into your plans using the information referenced on the University Careers Service website and in its information rooms. The value of alumni contacts is in providing further insight and encouragement based on personal experience, rather than information that can easily be found on the web.
Once you are prepared, simply contact us with your enquiry. Try to be as specific as possible as to the nature of your enquiry. Particularly helpful is information on the field or fields of work in which you are interested. You might inquire about career paths, moving to or returning to Toronto and the local job market, industry trends, company culture, etc.
We will look for the alumni who are most relevant to your enquiry and put you in touch with them.
Questions to ask alumni
- What do you find most rewarding/most difficult about your work?
- How did you get your job?
- What path did your career take?
- How did you make connections in a new city?
- How does your job relate to your degree at Edinburgh?
- What might you have done at Edinburgh to better prepare for a career in your field?
Bear in mind that: alumni are not acting as spokespeople for their organisation nor are they in a position to offer a job or advice on employment visas; and, alumni are offering their services on a voluntary basis and are busy people so interaction may be a one-off discussion by email or telephone as agreed, or could be ongoing at the discretion of the alumnus.
Reporting
Although this is purely an informal exchange between the EDUCT volunteers and students, EDUCT reserves the right to let the University know what level of interest there has been in this service and the nature of student enquiries.