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One of the biggest challenges SPE members will face throughout their career is the tricky transition from student to professional. Even if a job is lined up, nothing quite prepares you for finding your place in a company after years of enjoying the life of an independent student. And if you don’t have a job lined up, you face a lot of soul searching, wondering how long to hold out for your ideal job, compared to taking what is on offer (either inside or out of the industry). This is made all the more challenging with many of the traditional roles in the industry being updated for the modern age and companies broadening what skills are needed at entry levels.

This raises a lot of challenges for students, particularly as they reach the final years of their studies, and are fast approaching the point where they will no longer have easy access to peers and lecturers to advise them. Thankfully this is where our Young Professional members are stepping up.

YPs who have recently gone through this transition are in a unique position to offer their own personal experience on starting a job in the industry. They can do this in a way that a CEO or more experience professional simply wont be able to relate to, as they joining the industry in a different era.

For a long time SPE has been working to support transitioning members on this topic through things such as free graduate membership and the Ambassador Lecturer Program (ALP). Though from the reports these unique benefits are often underutilized.

While free graduate membership largely speaks for itself, people are often less certain about programs such as ALPs.

In reality the premise is simple. YPs visit local Universities, or higher education schools, to share their experience with students to give them a valuable insight into what its like to enter the industry.

This gives students the opportunity to ask questions, and find out what skills are really important, as well as meeting people actually in the industry. As speakers are representing themselves, rather than a company, they can be honest and frank about their experiences, in a way that inviting a senior company representative may not be allowed to.

For YPs this gives a unique opportunity to give presentations to large audiences in a formal setting. This is a surprisingly rare thing for YPs to have access to, and it is an experience that can show your employer you have the skills needed for project management, communicating to large groups, and mentoring others. Being able to show you have done this can be the thing that separates you from others when applying for more managerial roles.

Each region takes a different approach to ALPs given the needs of their members. Some YPs independently work with universities to host events, while some larger Sections have a long established systematic approach to making sure their local Chapters are supported. Many Chapters themselves source YPs to set up their own events and some are also running similar events at their  Chapters, just not under the banner of ALP.  

All approaches are welcomed by SPE International, and my role is to help support and advise regions to make the most of this through resources, templates, industry stats, and assistance with setting up these events when needed. (You can reach us at alp@spe.org).

However all these benefits are not without a cost, and like many SPE activities that cost is time. We have hundreds of YPs signed up to be an Ambassador, but very few actually take the time to arrange or participate in the program. This is why when the program does take place its so valued.

ALPs and free membership, (or any member benefit for that matter) only has value when you commit to it. The more you put in the more you get back. Obviously this has been challenging over the past few years, but many regions have stepped up with virtual ALPs, which allows for wider audiences, and a new set of skills of our YPs to learn.