From the Nominator

"In the face of the life-altering pandemic and its subsequent lockdown measures on educational institutions, students had to grapple with the additional loss of experiential learning opportunities. As a result, students and recent graduates experienced great difficulty envisioning viable career paths and imagining the future of work. 

Organized by McGill’s alumni relations team in partnership with career planning services, our traditional, in-person student-alumni job shadow program, offered in five regions (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, and New York) during March break, was reimagined onto online platforms to continue providing students and recent graduates with a glimpse into their desired career path. Offered throughout the month of March, the McGill Virtual Job Shadow program involved a series of roundtable discussions with professional alumni across a variety of industries and ended with a McGill Career Talks industry networking event. Participants received valuable career insights from McGill alumni in their field of interest, intended to help guide their choices in relation to internships, academic options, and co-curricular activities. 

Additionally, this was a meaningful way for alumni to contribute to students’ future readiness by sharing their experiences. 

Attracting a record number of students and recent graduates, this innovative format struck a chord and will be pursued in the future."

From the Judges

This initiative responded to a need of students and graduates entering the work world in a pandemic. A very clear and targeted approach was evident in terms of recruitment of mentors and engagement of students and graduates, with innovative and clever use of online resources.