Don’t Look Up, Look on alumni.cern!
Whilst alumni.cern cannot save us all from an approaching comet and the ensuing doom a strike on earth from such a cosmic snowball of frozen gases, rock and dust would cause, joining the community and visiting the platform regularly could contribute to broadening your professional network, keeping you connected with like-minded individuals and the Organization, finding a mentor/mentee or your next professional challenge, taking part in enriching and stimulating events and even providing opportunities to support CERN and its collaborations’ mission.
The alumni.cern platform is central to the community. With the number of members standing at just under 7,500 in its fourth year of existence, how does such a diverse community leverage the alumni.cern platform to its own benefit, whilst also demonstrating the positive impact of CERN alumni on society? The simplest way to ensure you benefit from being a member of alumni.cern is to complete your profile by entering your highest level of education, your professional experience, your skills and of course a picture. Sharing these data will help other members who may wish to reach out to you for advice and will also demonstrate how your career has flourished during and after your experience at CERN. Perhaps you are considering a move out of academia and the Community map and jobs board maybe become valuable tools in your search for your next professional experience, relying on completed members’ profiles. Some studies have shown that between 70 and 80% of jobs are filled through networking alone. Considering that CERN alumni have a shared experience and are supportive of each other, why not take a few moments to ensure your profile is up to date and dare to reach out to other members for advice.
Those who connect regularly to alumni.cern will be familiar with the various events the office for alumni relations organises to bring value to its members. A full profile helps us source potential speakers and panellists, candidates for our ‘Spotlights on CERN Alumni’, as well as members who wish to advertise their start-ups and job opportunities for their companies. Furthermore, a full profile guides potential mentees in selecting their preferred mentor. By completing your profile, you will also help demonstrate the positive impact of a professional experience at CERN; something we are proud to promote and something Member and Associate Member States are interested in.
CERN Alumni events are targeted at different audiences. We strive to bring those who are in their early careers in contact with companies keen to recruit from within the alumni.cern talent pool, through the Virtual Company Showrooms, which feature companies who are actively recruiting and have advertised their job opportunities on alumni.cern. In addition, thanks to alumni contributions we focus on specific sectors to which CERN alumni typically gravitate after their time at CERN. The Moving out of Academia events provide members with a space in which they can discover more about these sectors and quiz alumni working in these fields on matters concerning the transition from academia, marketing themselves for industry as well as conditions and opportunities in the sector. For those members who have left the Organization and are settled in their careers, we organise the News from the Lab series, to help them reconnect with the Organization and discover the incredible activities and technologies taking place at CERN. Such events are an excellent opportunity for CERN members of personnel to connect with alumni members and give them a privileged insight into our work taking place in the Lab.
In June 2022, we will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the network and the focus of our work this year will be under the banner of alumni ambassadors, and the various ways you can support the Organization and the network, but also how we can support you in doing so. As well as keeping your profiles complete and updated, members are invited to interact with each other either via the Live Feed, or the forums. Perhaps your career is indeed of a boost, in which case why not seek the guidance one of a CERN Alumni mentor? Those who have created start-ups or companies can gain further visibility via the ‘Your ventures’ space and in addition publicise job openings within the community on the virtual jobs’ board and at our virtual company showrooms. At Second Collisions several alumni received awards to celebrate their actions in supporting the Network and CERN. Amongst the award winners were alumni who are particularly active on alumni.cern, regularly posting job opportunities or contributing with content. Others have co-founded CERN Alumni groups (regional, interest amongst others) or have collaborated with CERN’s talent acquisition team to promote CERN job opportunities in their countries. The opportunities are vast, and all contribute to and benefit from the incredible impact of CERN alumni.
2022 is promising to be an exciting year and one in which CERN alumni have many opportunities to get involved. In December 2021, a UN resolution was adopted promulgating 2022 as the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, the steering committee of which is chaired by former President of CERN Council, Michel Spiro. First physics for the LHC Run3 will be celebrated via a 2-hour live broadcast on CERN Social media channels, as well as those of the LHC experiments (and partner labs/institutes). Furthermore, several activities are planned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs Boson and look forward to the future of the field and of CERN that this discovery opened up. The main pillar will be a symposium on 4 July, with a scientific and a public-facing component. Rest assured, the office for alumni relations will keep you updated on how you can follow these exciting events and also get involved on alumni.cern.
Your journey as a member of the CERN Alumni community starts with connecting to the platform, sharing your professional experience, how your career has flourished, forming a mentor/mentee relationship, publicising your start-up and opportunities, the challenges you have faced and what you have learnt. Alumni.cern is also a means to stay connected with a supportive, diverse, and like-minded community and the Organization. Keep a close eye on the platform and who knows, within the diverse career trajectories of the community a CERN alum might just discover how best deflect asteroids threatening earth, in which case you will definitely hear about it first on alumni.cern.
By Rachel Bray