If you think your dreams of a rewarding, fast-paced international career are too big, think again.
Global opportunities for University of Lethbridge grads are ready and waiting, and not just for business majors.
Kevin Legg (BA '05) knows firsthand the power of a ULethbridge education. Not only is he an alumnus himself, but he’s also hired 10 of them over the years to work in places as far-flung as Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and India.
“All over the world, there are organizations looking for good-hearted, smart, hard-working folks who have been well-equipped to take up much-needed roles. Good ULethbridge grads deserve those roles.”
For Legg, hiring ULethbridge grads is a mutually beneficial endeavour.
“It’s very gratifying and has been a source of meaning and satisfaction for me,” he says.
“It’s the opposite of nepotism, where you hand out opportunities just because of someone’s closeness to you. Someone with the University of Lethbridge on their CV has a lot to live up to in my organization, and that’s all the more reason to bring them on. I hold them to the same high standards as the other ULethbridge alums we’ve hired,” says Legg, who owns a successful corporate education business in Southeast Asia.
Alumni hires includes account managers, sales and client services VPs, instructional designers, research associates, psychologists and even an acting coach, with majors in political science, history, English, drama and education—more proof of the benefits of a liberal education.
“One of my hires made a transition from a career in the federal government to a role selling high-value research services to fund managers in Asia. It’s hard to express how difficult and unlikely a successful transition like that is, but he absolutely thrived on the challenge and nailed the opportunity,” he says.
“Another one of my hires joined as an intern in the summer of his third year and then returned after grad school. He was so successful we posted him to positions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney helping build up the regional offices – all within three years.”
But what is it exactly that draws Legg to hire people from his alma matter? It starts with a can-do attitude.
“There’s a kind of small-town-talent-makes-good-in-the-big-city storyline that we all share. It’s a rare delight to share the moment of being in a glass high-rise in Singapore closing a corporate partnership one moment, and the next sharing a love for the coulees, small town hockey and running down the hill to UHall to make it in time for class,” Legg says.
“It still amazes me how the unassuming, friendly ways of ULethbridge play so effectively in international boardrooms, executive deliberations and client meetings. The international business world loves honest, straight-talking, talented people who know how to make and keep friends. The University of Lethbridge has an unfair abundance of those kinds of folks.”