The What Works career speaker series was created in response to results from a Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) alumni engagement survey conducted in 2019. Respondents let us know they’d like more meaningful support and engagement opportunities related to their careers, and the speaker series involving SAIT’s Career Advancement Services was one of the ways we met that need. After nearly two years of running the program in a webinar format, we determined that each event saw an average of ~25 attendees. We decided it would be worth trying to increase our return on investment (specifically when it came to resources and time) by switching to a format that would offer more digestible, accessible, and high-quality content, so we transitioned the series into a podcast. The What Works podcast was developed and hosted by SAIT alumna and Alumni Engagement Officer, Alyssa Athanasopoulos. It has been live since April 17, 2023, and has seen 1,570 downloads thus far (~157 downloads per episode).
From the Judges
SAIT did a commendable job listening to their community’s needs (via an alumni survey). By transitioning a webinar series into a more evergreen podcast format, the university saw a sharp increase in engagement metrics. We applaud the use of an alumna to produce the podcast and alumni guests, ensuring a direct connection to the target audience.
