As a graduate of Cambridge Judge Business School you are entitled to a whole range of benefits and opportunities. Not sure how you can get a slice of the action or what’s on offer? Anna Wright, Head of Alumni Relations at CJBS, picks her top five benefits.
The list is long: easy access to the alumni global network, for advice, mentoring, expertise or just a friendly face in a new city.
Access country & special interest groups
“We’re committed to keeping our alumni connected and engaged both with the Business School and with each other,” says Wright – and she means it.
With 6,000 alumni in 100 countries around the world, the many active CJBS Groups, including those in Hong Kong, Australia, North and South America, Germany, China and Moscow, are essential – and they all welcome new members. The Alumni Relations Team will happily to put you in touch, or you can search for Groups and contact them directly via the website.
Alumni are also automatically a part of the University alumni network, made up of 214,000 members and rising.
New online directory
On the other hand, if you’re interested in reaching out to particular individuals rather than the Group, you can search for alumni by company, geographical area and business sector. This service, currently accessible via the Common Room, is due to be relaunched in Spring 2015. The new system will sync with LinkedIn, making it even easier for you to keep your details up-to-date.
Networking events, worldwide
CJBS events are perfect for those wanting to enhance their skills and develop new contacts as well as catch up with old classmates. “For example, the Business Briefings series takes faculty and expertise to alumni, wherever they are in the world,” says Wright. “And then there’s our global alumni celebration on 13 September – CJBS Celebrates: Worldwide. At the moment we have six alumni groups organising events around the world to celebrate their connection to the School. If you’re interested in organising an event, just let us know and we can support you. We’d love to hear your ideas.”
The Alumni Reunion takes place annually, and plans are already under way for the 2015 Reunion – so watch this space.
I didn’t want my degree to be just a piece of paper on the wall. I wanted to benefit from it for my whole life. Staying in touch is a great way to meet other alumni, and to keep in touch with what’s happening in Cambridge, and my CJBS network has really helped me build the right contacts in my industry. I’d recommend that everyone uses the tools that CJBS provides.
Monthly e-newsletter
Your education doesn’t stop when you leave Cambridge. The monthly e-newsletter is a great way to benefit from the latest research and thinking being developed in the School, and find out about events and opportunities in Cambridge and worldwide.
The newsletter also carries professional profiles of leading alumni and a noticeboard for alumni to post news and updates. “Our group uses this a lot – it gives us lots of ideas, insight and inspiration,” says Huard. “It’s also great for marketing our events to the alumni community.”
Email for life
Current students and alumni are entitled to a free lifetime email address which offers an exclusive connection to the University and to CJBS.
For those of you who have graduated this year – if you sign up before 31 December you will receive 12 months’ usage of a premium account. All other members receive three months’ free premium service, after which the account will revert to basic unless you choose to upgrade. Work is currently underway to extend the programme to alumni of Executive Education and the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning programmes.
The Alumni Relations Team would love to hear from you. If you’re a graduate and want to find out more about accessing these benefits, or you’ve got an idea about how we can support you further, please get in touch via [email protected].