Career Progression in London
The University of Edinburgh London Alumni Network held a Career Progression networking event on 5 November at the University Women’s Club. With over 50 alumni in attendance the evening was a resounding success.
The event consisted of a panel of seven speakers from various career backgrounds. Each speaker gave a brief overview of their career to date along with some useful tips and guidance.
Advice, inspiration and guidance
The evening kicked off with Steve Norman, Assistant Director at the University’s Careers Centre, who acted as Chair and gave an update on activities at the careers service including the new eMentoring service.
Following this Jane Campbell, BA 1975 MBA 1992, then spoke about her experience as a Management Consultant, and described ‘My Career Circle’.
Other speakers included Alex Muller, BSc 2011, who talked about launching your own start-up company and how this enhanced his managerial skills and enabled him to work for some of the worlds biggest pharmaceutical companies.
Laura Henson, MSc 2000, spoke about her career in international publishing and setting up her own events business ‘44 Frocks’.
Ross Neilson, MA 2006, works for public policy consultancy ICF GHK and is currently seconded to the Cabinet Office as a policy advisor, gave practical advice on how he made the most of opportunities to progress his career.
Geraldine Gallacher, BA 1980 MBA 1981, set up her own company 'The Executive Coaching Consultancy' in 1994 and finally Rhian Pamphilon is the Communications, Media and Technology lead for Accenture, UK and Ireland. Both Geraldine and Rhian gave top tips on progressing your career.
I thought the knowledge and experience of the presenters, the chance to network with them and the opportunity for informal networking were all very useful. It was interesting to hear different perspectives and general themes.
After the speeches which there was a networking session which allowed alumni to ask one-on-one questions to the panel members.
The next London Alumni Network event will be held in the Spring but if you wish to find out more about the Network please visit the Facebook page or connect via Linkedin.