Alumni volunteers share their expertise across the globe.
One of the many ways our alumni volunteer to help others is through mentoring. As David Martinelli (Hispanic Studies with Mathematics, 1991), King's alum and leader of the New York Alumni Association says, 'If you went to King's, you are part of a community that will help you for the rest of your life. Whether it's an ear to listen, someone to share ideas with, mentoring, a connection or a job opportunity. I believe that if you went to King's, you owe it, in a way, to help others from King's. I'm a great believer in paying it forward.'
The Alumni office already offers face-to-face mentoring through our Leadership Mentoring and King's Business School's Diversity Mentoring Programmes and our Mentoring Meet Up events. Alumni mentors and coaches also share their expertise as part of entrepreneurship schemes and our Civic Leadership Academy and Civic Challenge programmes.
And now, digital mentoring is possible through the exclusive King's alumni online networking platform, King's Connect - now boasting more than 15,000 members.
This March, as part of Global Day of Service, 248 alumni from across 46 countries took part in digital mentoring, with many trying it for the first time.
Oxana Miron (Organisational Psychiatry and Psychology, 2011) joined the King's Connect Mentoring Programme in spring 2021 to discuss expectations and career objectives with a new mentee. 'It gave me a sense of purpose knowing I could help someone,' she said. Sivaranjani Subramanian (Advanced Software Engineering, 2019) mentored for King's for the first time. Her mentee was especially glad to have help from a female software engineer as she prepared for her first job interviews. Kenya-based Edward Wanyonyi (Security, Leadership & Society, 2015) talked to a recent graduate about post COVID-19 opportunities. Inês Gouveia da Silva in Portugal (Culture & Creative Industries, 2012) enjoyed having a positive impact on students across the world as she helped them identify their desired career paths. Frederick Xing (Banking & Finance, 2017) shared insights into the financial services sector and reviewed CVs. Claudio Marseglia (International Management, 2019) shared his skills as a King's Civic Challenge coach. 'It was fun to talk to students and it feels good to be able to make the world a little bit better' he said.
In a similar vein, 47 alumni offered LinkedIn profile feedback to Civic Leadership Academy scholars or were panellists at a Careers and Employability virtual event.
In total, over 400 alumni and students took advantage of mentoring in March alone. All of our mentors truly embody King's ethos of Service and what it is to be part of the alumni community. This Volunteers' Week, we'd like to say a big thank you for everything that they do.
Become a mentor on King's Connect
