E.MAlumni Career Day - Friday 24 January 2014 in Venice

Already in its fourth year, the E.MA Programme and E.MAlumni Association organised the Career Day on Friday 24 January 2014 in Venice. This important day in the schedule of the European M.A. in Human Rights and Democratisation provides current students with useful advice for their job search and support in choosing a career path.

The morning session focused on how to know what kind of profession you want, CV and Cover letter writing skills and an introduction to the E.MA Internship and Fellowship programme. Students also highly valued the CV clinic where they had the opportunity to get direct personal feedback on their CVs from the professionals at hand. In the afternoon, presentations were devoted to specific job profiles in the NGO and IGO sector and skills such as writing project proposals.

Three E.MAlumni facilitated during the day and passed on their expertise to Masterini. Steven Martin and Antonia Barradas shared useful tips on how to break into different sectors in the field of human rights and gave an insight into what working for the OSCE and Amnesty International Portugal is like. Sara Melkko, a former headhunter, coached students on interview techniques and how to come out top in application procedures.

Founded in 2010, the E.MAlumni has provided the E.MA graduates with a unique support platform and unrivalled network for discussion and has implemented projects for graduates. In addition to this, the Association is also providing capacity-building to other Alumni Associations of the Regional Masters’ Programmes of the Global Campus.

One of the flagship initiatives of the E.MAlumni is the Global Campus Mentoring Programme. The goal of the programme, as described by Lydia Malmedie Vice-President of the E.MAlumni, is to pair up GC Alumni for bespoke one-to-one support. Mentors offer their help to mentees who need advice on issues such as CV writing, job interviews or how to combine professional and family life.

Initially an E.MA initiative, the Mentoring Programme was opened to all Global Campus Alumni in 2013, creating an invaluable pool of over 100 mentors and mentees around the world. Participants of the programme are able to access further peer support through an online forum on the E.MAlumni website and receive updates about good practice as well as links to useful resources. Upon completion of a free online training, submission of a mentoring agreement and report participants, will receive a certificate.

This initiative as well as the E.MA Career clearly point to the added-value of the E.MAlumni and of the huge potential Global Campus network.

Antonia Barradas spoke about her new professional experience at Amnesty International
after having been an E.MA Masterina