Alumni’s Role in the World of Business

An alumnus, or alumni in plural, is a former student of a school, college, or university.  Most of the universities abroad and some private universities in the Czech Republic have established networking associations called an alumni network or an alumni association, uniting all graduates of the university’s programmes. The association is usually led by a voluntary and appointed group of alumni representatives, or ambassadors, who act as advisors to the university with a vision to provide opportunities for alumni and students and supporting key strategic initiatives and build lifelong connections.

Such an association was recently introduced at Prague College. “Using the help of our Ambassadors, we were able to connect our alumni with students, and we are planning the first alumni event in the autumn during which graduates from all of our programmes could meet and share their life experiences,” says the Strategic Communications Manager, Lucie Evjakova. “The ambassadors were strategically selected to represent the network based on their professional experiences and academic accomplishments, and they represent a wide range of professions ranking from logistics, to HR consultancy, NGO Management and oil, gas, and energy industries. Thanks to the alumni network, the graduates were brought closer to the university and could share their life stories as guest speakers invited to individual modules instructed at the college. They helped with the organisation of such events as Career Day which brings businesses and potential employment opportunities to students as well,” she adds.

Since the La Pelicula job, Klára has had an opportunity to participate on many more projects for Aerofilms, as well as expanding her portfolio and working with other businesses including projects for theatre festivals, architectural exhibitions, live transmissions of theatre, opera and ballet, and concerts. Klára believes that her experience studying Graphic Design formally was the setting block to her career development, but there were still some skills that needed to be acquired in practice, such as project-specific technical skills, working under deadlines, and professional communication with her clients. “A range of skills, including the adoption of certain workflow, time management, theoretical knowledge, and relating practical examples during studies were invaluable assets to my career,“ she adds, “with all that in mind, enthusiasm plays a big role, you need to be enthusiastic to be successful in what you do.“    

The online software provides an easy to use customer service tool for identification and engagement of unsatisfied customers across social media and online discussions. The brand was chosen by Telefonica O2, Diageo, Johnson & Johnson, and others; it was also shortlisted to the Top 20 technological startups by TechCity UK, and placed in the top 12 Czech global startups, while currently being backed by Startupyard accelerator and the UK Trade & Investment. Vít says, “my studies helped me considerably to understand what being a global start-up company means, and how a company with international focus should look like. I designed my position within the organisation based on my skills, experience, and also knowledge gained during my studies. But the actual idea to come up with a business of this nature came up while in a shower thinking about what to do next.” Vít believes that entrepreneurial thinking, business modeling, team development, hardwork, communication, and critical thinking skills are crucial when you want to land a job such as being an entrepreneur of a start of business.”

The best success for Vít is to look around and see people benefiting from what he does and looking at the process of growth from a vague idea into a concept, project, and successful business. His future plan is to lead Brand Embassy to the top in the social media online care where companies will be responsibly taking care of their dissatisfied customers on the Internet. And what about his future projects? They will be most likely in innovative symbiosis of cutting-edge technologies applied to natural resources savings. “I want to get into a stage where I will feel that I helped considerably the society in bettering lives,” he concludes.

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