Next generation benefit from alumni advice

For many students, the thought of having to find their first role after university can be scary.

Luckily for Melbourne students, the University’s alumni are on hand to help.

Ten alumni volunteered to be the stars of a series of “Alumni career tips” videos, targeting those who will soon be looking for their first graduate position.

The four short videos answer some of the most common questions new graduates have – from making the most of work experience and how to network effectively to writing a great job application and handling interviews well.

By the end of June the videos had been viewed almost 4000 times on YouTube and shared across social media, as well as in several publications aimed at new graduates.

University staff are using them in careers presentations and, although targeted at graduates, the videos are also being used as a resource by high school careers advisers.

Alumni Careers Co-ordinator Rachael Ballamy produced the videos.

“We’ve had a fantastic response to the videos and students love them as the information is from such relevant sources,” she says.

“I’m really pleased with their success, and the volunteers were great. We are so grateful to the alumni who gave up their time to take part.”

Matthew Hale (BA, BCom 2011), an associate at NAB in Melbourne, was one of the alumni who appeared in the videos. “I saw it as an opportunity to share my experiences with students in a similar situation to what I had faced only a few years ago,” he says.

“The 20 minutes of filming at my workplace provided me with a great opportunity to offer a young alumni lens to common student recruitment issues and also allowed me to give something back to the University.”

Watch the videos on the University’s Careers and Employment channel on YouTube, and find out more about the many opportunities available to alumni to help current students at the InTouch alumni portal.