Alumni Bolster Career Development Experiences

Alleyn's alumni kindly gave back their time and expertise to support a programme of Careers initiatives throughout the month of March. Representing a number of industries and fields, they returned to Alleyn's to provide keynote talks, dedicated class sessions, Careers Café interactions and one-on-one practice interviews.

As part of National Careers Week from 4 March, Chris Allnutt (Tulley's 2011) visited to provide a keynote talk in the Great Hall to MFL groups from Year 8 through to Year 12. A Junior Sub Editor at the Financial Times newspaper, Chris studied Modern Languages at university to postgraduate level. His early career pathway took in stints as a trainee at the European Parliament, an internship at BAFTA, a campaign for a second referendum after Brexit and a youth voter turnout campaign during the 2019 General Election.

Chris called upon his experiences to provide his audiences with a brilliant overview of language in his life. He gave an insight into what a language course at university entails and the subsequent opportunities that languages can offer up. He reminded pupils that studying a language does not automatically mean a career in teaching or translation, but that it also opens up the opportunity of taking on many different types of jobs in the particular country or countries that speak a given language.

Later the same week, we also welcomed back Josh Holloway (Tyson's 2007), a Product Manager at fintech (financial technology) company Wise Ltd. Josh has a long-held passion for problem solving and technology, so his career journey has taken him to exactly the right place! Josh spoke to two separate Computer Science classes about his experience of studying computer science at university and outlined how his role as a Product Manager works.

He shared a great deal of insight into how he works with engineers, designers and data analysts to improve overall customer experiences and what salary structures look like in his field. It was a compelling presentation and pupils responded with lots of questions, coming away armed with tips on how they could improve their tech skills, and where to look for work experience.

Finally, and equally enriching for our Upper School students, were the visits from Alastair Walker (Brown's 2017) and Joshua Moger (Cribb's 2008) to support Year 12 Careers Day, Friday 15 March.  Josh, a partner in family law, and Alastair, a design and architecture professional, both engaged in conversations around their career journey and experiences. They also participated in interview sessions, providing students with valuable practice time as well as constructive feedback on their performance. 

We are really grateful to Chris, Josh, Joshua and Alastair for returning to help with these careers activities. Not only is it wonderful for our current pupils to have the benefit of their expertise, but we also very much enjoyed catching up with them, hearing about their recent adventures and connecting them with other Alleyn's opportunities.

Here in the Development and Alumni Relations Office, we are always pleased to try to connect you with opportunities to support our Careers and other initiatives, so do be in touch if you would be interested to give back in this way.