INSEAD is delighted to have launched a peer-to-peer advising and mentoring platform that allows our alumni and students to connect and support one another on their career journeys. The result of a great collaboration between the school and the INSEAD Alumni Association, iLink has resulted in over 2,800 meaningful career connections taking place since the platform’s launch in September 2020.
Carlos Montemayor MBA’96J, the IAA Vice President who drove the project alongside the school, says: “We already had a community with a shared experience and values, and it made sense to offer this population a way of connecting so that they could help one another with their career trajectories. Harnessing our unique community in this way was an obvious next step for INSEAD, and we are delighted to have been able to deliver this at such a crucial time.”
The platform, available directly through MyINSEAD, is easy to navigate and facilitates targeted networking with fellow INSEAD alumni – you can search for an advisor by location, industry, company or specific topics. It allows you to seek advice from fellow alumni on specific career challenges such as switching industries, starting a new business, getting back into the workforce after a career break, or becoming a non-executive director.
The timing of the launch could not have been better – coinciding as it did with the challenges and career disruptions posed by the pandemic to our community. Many of our alumni who have signed up and been able to gain direct access to the expertise and guidance they needed have reported very positively on the platform:
“INSEAD’s network has been invaluable when founding Zenyum and developing it into Asia’s fastest growing Smile Cosmetics brand. Starting a company is hard but through INSEAD portals like iLink I was able to connect to partners, future staff and investors – and eventually ended up raising $17M USD so far. Now it’s time to help other alumni and I enjoy discussions on how to build Asia’s next Unicorns together with INSEAD entrepreneurs via the platform.” – Julian Artopé MBA’17J, Founder & CEO, Zenyum
iLink is also now available to INSEAD students, and we need more advisors to help this cohort with the challenging job market that lies ahead. If you can dedicate a few hours of your time and help fellow alumni with their needs, please register here – the platform allows you to determine in advance how much time you are able to commit.
The foundations for iLink originally took shape in the UK’s National Alumni Association as a legacy of the iW50 celebrations, which started offering mentoring to its members back in 2017, as a result of INSEAD alumna Florence Hamilton’s MBA’85J desire to offer this service. The INSEAD Alumni Association and the school had concurrently identified the need for a career advising and mentoring platform, and took on board all of Hamilton’s research and experience, looking into several big name platforms before arriving at the right fit for INSEAD. iLink is the result of an 18-month collaboration between the school’s Lifelong Learning and Career Development Centres, and the IAA. We are delighted that our alumni have embraced it so wholeheartedly, helping to create a web of meaningful career-related connections:
“I am very excited that INSEAD has helped set up iLink to connect INSEAD alumni across years, and from all over the world. I find that it is such a good, curated space to find like-minded alumni to get ideas, explore and start new projects. For the experienced alumni, it offers a great opportunity to engage in mentoring and reverse mentoring. I encourage all alumni to sign up and start using it.” – Ramya Krishnaswamy MBA’05J, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum, Switzerland.
Several of INSEAD’s National Alumni Associations have also now adopted the platform to offer their own mentoring prorgammes on iLink as an additional benefit for their members, thus expanding the network of support and mentorship available to our alumni.
Please log in to iLink and establish purposeful connections with your fellow alumni!
