Alumni and Careers Afternoon

At the beginning of February 2010, the final year students of the German Department hosted an Alumni and Careers “Kaffee & Kuchen” afternoon.

Currently in the middle of writing essays and preparing for final exams, many students have also already started to apply for jobs or are at least thinking and worrying about what will happen after that final translation exam in June. Therefore the aim for the event was to invite back recent graduates of the German department to see what useful advice they might be able to give the current final year at this stressful time and to find out where they could be in two, three or five years.

The response was great, with 10 graduates attending and speaking to over 30 finalists and many more alumni getting in touch, giving information on their career path so far, providing useful hints and tips and event contact details for further information and possible job contacts.

Not only did students benefit from learning about how they can apply the skills and knowledge acquired during their degrees in the real world, there was also plenty of opportunity to chat and mingle with the alumni whilst having - in good German tradition - some fabulous homemade cake.

All in all it was a very successful event - very useful for the current finalists, who maybe just for a moment were able to forget about that essay due in the next day whilst the returning graduates enjoyed coming back to the university, meeting up again and passing on some of their experiences in the "real world" outside the "bubble". A great afternoon for current students, graduates and staff of the German department alike.

Thank you to Asad Dhunna, Laurie Spicer and Kylie Evans for their initiative and hard work to make this event happen.