Lboro Connect – new platform for connecting with Loughborough Alumni

60% of jobs in the UK are found through networking

Lboro connect is an online community where Loughborough Students and Alumni can build knowledge and share experiences through networking and mentoring.lboro-connect

Students and alumni can sign up to mentor or be mentored, build their profile and search for other members who can help answer questions or provide career or sector insights.

Careers Network and the Alumni Office will encourage students and alumni to set up profiles and connect with one another. Students can use their LU student login, or set-up using their LinkedIn or Facebook accounts – making registration and profile updates simple.

As well as the mentoring benefits, students and alumni can form peer or special interest groups (as on LinkedIn). The platform also provides a really positive and easy way for alumni to re-engage, stay in touch and continue to contribute to the University, which most are very keen to do.

Sign up/Log in to Lboro Connect

Exclusive to Loughborough students and alumni, Lboro Connect is a current and vibrant community offering flexible ways for users to offer and browse opportunities such as mentoring, work shadowing, and insight days. It is an easy way to allow students to begin building their professional networks and for alumni to stay in touch and give something back to the university after graduation, keeping the Loughborough family together.
Why join Lboro Connect?
Lboro Connect is an online community designed to develop networks and mentoring relationships between our alumni and between alumni and students. Students and alumni are free to connect to anyone in the community as long as they treat them with respect and consideration. Our goal is to enable a generous and supportive community.
Benefits of Lboro Connect
Lboro Connect is special because it brings together Loughborough University alumni and students, a remarkable group of talented, inspiring and accomplished individuals. You can interact with the community in any way you wish. Sign up to mentor or be mentored, build your profile and search for other members who can help answer questions or provide insights you need. Simply build a profile and enjoy observing the relationships and connections that grow within the community!
Build your network
The great thing about Lboro Connect is that everyone will be starting from the beginning, so you are all in the same position. Use this new slate to communicate with others as much as possible.
Groups
  • Start by joining groups related to your interests
  • Post questions and observations to strike up a conversation
  • Comment on other members’ posts to start building a rapport
  • Start following members within the group and continue the conversation!
 People
  • Under “people”, start filtering through those with similar interests and experience as you, or search for those with the experience and skills you wish to have
  • Follow those you have filtered and follow up with a message explaining why you have done so. By following them, this will allow you to read a “digest” of their activity and get to know them
On your home screen, recent posts will appear from people you follow. Get involved by commenting on these posts to share your knowledge and views.
For further information on networking outside of Lboro Connect, please see our Networking for career planning and job search PDF:
Joining Groups
Under “groups” you will see different group types to click into and join. Search through those which may be of interest to you and click “join” if you wish to do so.
Some groups may be private, for which you will need approval from the group administrator to join, but with most you should be able to join straight away.
Once you have joined, you can post updates, comment on posts and upload documents. You can also decide whether you would like to receive email notifications from the group, and how often you want to receive them.
If there is a group that you would like to be a part of, but doesn’t exist, pending approval from an administrator, you can just create your own group by clicking on the plus (+) next to the title.
With groups you have the option to find out more about a variety of causes around and outside of the university, and you are given the opportunity to network with those you may not normally be able to connect with. We expect this function to continue to grow, so be sure to keep checking back so you don’t miss out on any opportunities!
For more information about Lboro Connect, please click here.

Linked In Presentation – Getting Started

This presentation will cover the resources available to help with your LinkedIn profile, the LinkedIn Alumni tool, and how to network effectively on LinkedIn. You can book by via Careers Online.

Dates

Thursday 13 October

Monday 24 October

Friday 11 November

For a full list of events, please visit: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/careers/students-and-graduates/employability/employ-dyc/

 

International Student Book Club

WELCOME to the International Student Book Club

Would you like to develop your skills in spoken English?
If so, this club is for you!
You will discover the pleasure of reading short books by well-known authors and share your ideas in a friendly, relaxed environment.
The club is free to join and you will be provided with all the books we discuss on a first-come first-served basis.

reading

 

Sara Bosley organises the club as an informal social event. Membership is free of charge. The university has generously provided money to buy books for you to borrow.
The purpose of the club is to:
• help you to develop your skills in spoken English
• discover the pleasure of reading short books by well-known authors
• share your ideas in a friendly, relaxed environment
• meet people from other cultures
What will be read
The club has a small stock of books purchased with funds provided by the university. Most of these books are ‘Quick Reads’, which are short, easy-to-read and written by well–known authors. You can borrow a copy of the book we are reading, share with a friend or buy your own copy if you wish. Most of the books cost under £2 for hard copy or for a Kindle version. Have a look at Quick Reads to see where you can buy copies: http://www.quickreads.org.uk/buying-your-quick-reads/where-to-buy.
I have selected books for the first few meetings, but if the group decides to choose book that is not in our current collection, you will need to purchase your own copy.
Discussing the books
Discussion will be about things like:
• what you thought and felt about the book
• people – the main characters. What sort of people do you think they are? Can you relate to their experiences?
• plot – how clear is the storyline? What do you think of the ending?
• place – Where is the action set? Country/town, institution/home?
• themes – What ideas is the author is exploring? How do you relate to the ideas and opinions expressed in the book?
The idea is to give everyone a chance to speak, but you do not have to say anything if you prefer to listen.
We all read the same book so that we can share our experiences of reading it and our reactions to it with other members of the group. I want you to enjoy reading the book. If you don’t finish it or only read a few pages, please come to the meeting anyway.
Meetings
The club meet in Seminar Room 1 in the library from 5-6pm. Sara will bring refreshments to share, but you are welcome to bring some snacks popular in your own culture if you wish.
The club usually meet three times in the first and second terms. The dates for the first term and the books I suggest that we read are listed here:

Book club launch – 18th October 2016

Book title and author: Today Everything Changes by Andy McNab
Meeting date when the club will discuss the book: 15th November 2016

Abandoned as a baby, Andy McNab’s start in life was tough. Growing up in South London with foster parents, and surrounded by poverty, he attended seven schools in as many years, disillusioned and in remedial classes. It wasn’t long before his life descended into petty crime. By the age of sixteen, he was in juvenile detention.

Book title and author: Wrong Time, Wrong Place by Simon Kernick
Meeting date when the club will discuss the book: 13th December 2016

You are hiking in the Scottish highlands with three friends when you come across a girl. She is half-naked, has been badly beaten, and she can’t speak English. She is clearly running away from someone.
Do you stop to help her? Even if it means putting your friends’ lives – and your own – in terrible danger?

Borrowing and returning books
You can borrow the books from Sara at one meeting and return them to me at the next meeting. If you cannot attend a meeting, please return your book to the University Library information desk. Tell staff that you are a member of the international student book club and leave your name so that I know you have returned the book. Please do return books so that other students can borrow them later.

If you have any questions about the book club, please contact Sara Bosley at s.l.c.bosley@lboro.ac.uk or visit the club’s Facebook page. You can use Facebook to leave and read messages about the club. Please encourage your friends to join the club.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/319903914875688/

Other ideas for enjoying reading and sharing your ideas about books
• Borrow books from the Leisure Reading Collection area on the Level 4 of University Library.
• Join the public library. This is free of charge and gives you access to a wider range of leisure reading. Loughborough’s public library stocks some Quick Reads as well as many other books and some magazines http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/leisure_tourism/libraries/library_services
• Follow the Radio 4’s Book Club where readers talk to well-known authors about their work: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5sf and Open Book for discussions about modern and classic fiction http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp6p
• If you want to read longer, more challenging books you might be interested in the general Student Book Club, which is open to all students. For more information, please contact Sharon Reid at the Library: S.D.Reid@lboro.ac.uk, ext. 222403 or why not join the Club’s Facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/Club790