YNPACt - 2021 Annual Review

In 2021, we (Gideon, Aleithia and Sylvia) decided to start a network to support Yale-NUS’ alumni in their social impact pursuits. Earlier in the year, we never expected that the closure of the school would be announced only a few short months later.

Nevertheless, our resolve remains absolute - provide a space where alumni can connect over shared interest in social impact work, share resources and skills and help guide current students in their social impact journeys .

In the past year, we have: interviewed four alumni on their social impact careers; hosted two events for students and alumni to share and learn from each other’s journeys; and created a directory of alumni interested in/working on social issues.

Running these events and interviewing alumni have only continued to inspire us. We are heartened by the positive responses to our events and blog posts.

At the same time, we can't help but stress out over turnouts and view counts – have these events and articles brought us closer to our aim? Are we meeting a persisting gap for a stronger social impact community, in light of Yale-NUS’s closure?

As these questions continue to shape our work, we remain grateful to have a space to share our thoughts on how to have a meaningful career, and to learn from others whose search for meaning have taken them down different paths. And moving forward, we want to invite more alumni on their own journeys of finding meaning in their careers to join us in growing YNPACt.

This year, we hope to bring more events connecting current students to alumni in socially impactful sectors/careers, and more avenues for alumni to connect and discuss big issues, like how the social impact sector should look like.

Before we end off - here are some words of wisdom to carry us through the new year:

Event Recap: Social Impact Consulting AMA

In Nov 2021, YNPACt kickstarted it's student engagement programming with a career Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) between students and alumni working in social impact consulting. The event came after a student poll which highlighted social impact consulting as the #1 voted industry of interest, among others including sustainability, healthcare, and education.

Our panellists came from a variety of backgrounds, with Callysta ('19) and Gideon ('21) having been in social impact consulting since graduation, whereas Hoa ('17) and Tiara ('19) have spent time in other industries.

Why social impact consulting?

We started the session off by asking our panellists, “What brought you to social impact consulting?” While they have all had different career arcs, with some panellists joining the industry in recent months and years, and others transitioning into the industry at a later stage; they were all drawn to the opportunity to work on meaningful social causes while gaining corporate skills - a unique combination within the social impact field, and one that combines “the best of both worlds”.

Gideon shared that he had been shaped by Yale-NUS College’s culture of discourse around social issues, and enjoyed being able to re-engage in a similar environment at work.

For alumni currently fulfilling the Tuition Grant Scheme (TGS), requirements, considerations such as the minimum income made social impact consulting, an attractive early career option as compared to careers in purely non-profit organisations

Comparing to Peers

True to its pitch, the panellists shared that social impact consulting draws on the structure and rigor of traditional consulting firms. Tiara, who moved from urban planning to social impact consulting earlier this year, wanted to gain more generalist exposure early in her career, instead of specializing in a particular skill set, such as urban planning - and a single country. Similarly, Hoa, who had previously worked in a research role, found social impact consulting to have a more obvious practical output, in her work driving strategy for non-profits and government organisations.

Our panellists also shared about applying consulting skills to social impact initiatives outside of work: Gideon and Callysta, who volunteer with organisations in the area of skills development and employment, shared that skills such as taking a hypothesis-driven approach to break down complex problems, coming up with a structured research plan, managing projects and stakeholders, and effective communication skills, enhanced their ability to contribute to on-the-ground volunteering experiences and bring added value to their teams.

Inside the Industry

The students present were keen to learn about our panellists’ alumni’s experiences as social impact consultants.

In response to a question on how alumni managed instances where client requirements presented a personal ethical dilemma for themselves, one panellist shared that even in a client-centric business, they were still able to have open debates on such issues with their colleagues and in some cases, their clients as well

Students also asked about downsides to the industry, and whether social impact consulting was necessarily all that it was made out to be. After all, as one alumni put it, there is sometimes the notion that large-scale impact - the kind that social impact consulting strived to unlock - was necessarily the best way to engage in social issues.

To which, the panel almost unanimously agreed that social impact consulting was but one medium through which one could engage in social issues. The consulting experience complements the work of dedicated organisations well, bringing a high-level view of a number of industries and a versatile skill set which can be applied in other contexts.

However, the panellists pointed out that on-ground organizations often possessed deeper technical expertise and a more accurate sense of how lives were changed by programmes and policies. Ultimately, the panellists argued that social impact consulting was one of many possible career options to contribute and bring about positive impact. While it may be a helpful launchpad, it is fluid as a career space that students can consider further along in their career journeys as well. Hoa, for example, chose to focus more on urban planning consulting after working with a generalist social impact consultancy.

Taking Action

The session then culminated in a series of practical tips for the students. Tiara urged applicants to ask about the firms’ staffing practices and theory of change. Callysta encouraged students to trust that employers would be interested in their personal experiences, as long as students could draw out the important implications and data points for interviewers to take note of. Gideon encouraged students to view their careers as just one way to engage in impact, and continue to engage in side projects to maintain a breadth of perspective.This event was the first in YNPACt’s series of AMAs, which are intimate, casual chats we have lined up to connect current Yale-NUS College students with alumni in a range of industries to offer insights, advice, practical tips, and support in their career and life journeys.

Stay tuned for YNPACt’s next Career Ask-Me-Anything where we discuss all things related to careers in Environment and Sustainability in 2022!

YNPACt Community Huddle #1

We held our first event on 16 September! YNPACt started with the goal of helping alumni support each other in our social impact journeys. Given the news about YNC's closure, we felt like it was even more important for us to hold space for each other, and reflect about the role the Yale-NUS played in bringing us where we were.

Screenshot of YNPACt Community Huddle Miro board

The Zoom session was facilitated by Sylvia Gan '17 and Callysta Thony '19, who are now working in environmental education and social innovation consulting respectively. Together with fellow alumni, we moved through a series of questions:

"Which aspects of the Yale-NUS experience have been integral to your social impact journey?"

In the first segment, we asked alumni to identify aspects of the College experience that had nudged them towards pursuing social impact. The answers were clustered around Centre for International and Professional Experience's (CIPE) programmes, academic courses, internships and aspects of the college culture. For example, CIPE's annual Social Impact Bootcamp (previously known as the NGO Bootcamp) gave some alumni the skills and knowledge to talk about the sector. Through the CIPE Social Impact Fellowship, one alumni also started thinking more deeply about inefficiencies in the charity model and dependencies in the international development framework.

"YNC had a culture of communication, collaboration and inclusion. That really helped me grow in my journey of social impact."

For some, it was the connections that they made between courses and fieldwork - one alumni found linkages between a course on agrarian studies, an internship in Indonesia and her study abroad programme in Costa Rica. This led her to think about how to put theory into practice, and how there can be many ways of building meaning in life. For another, interning with a civic engagement programme for ethnic Vietnamese students in Cambodia set her on the path of looking at how to decolonise education, and promote equity in the education space.

Many pointed towards a culture of open communication - even outside the classroom - paired with classmates taking action as a key driving factor behind them choosing to pursue social impact themselves.

"What are you doing now?"

We then turned to ask alumni what they are doing now. Predictably, everyone's journeys spanned across a diverse continuum: public policy research, intercultural engagement, farming and development in rural Southeast Asia, ecology research and environmental impact assessments, marketing at a fast-food MNC, education, and youth development and mentorship.

"What's next for you?"

Some alumni who have been working in research shared about a desire to move into more action-focused roles. Others talked about wanting to take their corporate experiences to marketing and fundraising roles in non-profits, reflecting a broader trend around wanting to boost the fundraising capabilities of non-profits.

One interesting idea that came up was alumni who wanted to go back to the corporate sector to build skills before returning to the social sector, along with one attendee who highlighted financial independence as their primary goal, freeing them to pursue their own interest in marine conservation.

"I learnt to not see career arcs according to the standard metrics around us."

This led to the question of how to make these transitions, and the factors in consideration.

Choosing where to work, and the accompanying ethical and practical considerations, was a meaty topic for the group. The group in attendance consisted of non-Singaporean alumni on the Tuition Grant Scheme looking to return to their home countries, as well as Singaporeans looking to travel out. Those who wanted to move home, but had been raised and educated overseas, expressed doubts over whether they were best placed to help back in their home communities. Singaporeans looking to work in Southeast Asia also felt like they weren't sure if they were the best people to be looking for non-profit on-the-ground roles overseas.

Financially, financing a move or finding sustainable income sources - especially for those who have already been bootstrapping in non-profit organisations for the past few years - would be a challenge. Visa and immigration issues - worsened in the age of COVID-19 - only exacerbated these concerns.

"What would you choose to pass on to future students or your younger self?"

"One thing I would tell current YNC students would be to build a wider range of demographics with whom you can talk about social impact. At the end of the day, YNC is a fairly small community with our own peculiar characteristics."

Given all that we had learnt since our College days till now, we asked alumni for advice they'd give to their younger self, or current students. These tips were what surfaced:

• Build range in talking to different demographic groups;

• Understand the Singaporean social impact/service sector;

• Prioritise treating others well, regardless of whether this was within a defined "impact space;"

• Invest in community - shared goals really help, and don't get bogged down by details, labels [how you define yourself] and guilt [of not doing enough/the most impactful thing];

• Live up to your personal values; interacting with others with humility and helping on a personal level all count as impact. Impact does not have to look a particular way;

• Take time to find your own voice and opinion amidst the noise that the YNC community can sometimes tend to generate.

"How can we make the most of the last few years to develop the Yale-NUS social impact community?"

We concluded our reflections about YNC's impact on us by asking how alumni might be interested in investing in these last few years of the YNC student body and its social impact journey. A few reiterated their desire to mentor, and meet with current students to share their experiences, ideas for social impact, volunteering opportunities.

Some alumni also wanted to show that a career in the non-profit/social impact world is "survivable" (tough, but doable!) and the various career paths that current students may not be aware of. Sharing tactical advice, through sessions on running a non-profit, motivating volunteers, grad school and fellowship applications also came up.

Lastly, some suggested expanding on our directory of alumni, to link users to fellowships, internship programmes and full-time job postings.

"I hope alumni can continue to support international students, by helping them to see how they can continue to stay involved in social impact work whilst being on TGS."

Hearing news about YNC's closure was tough to stomach. But at least for us, the Community Huddle was a warm, familiar space to yet again wrestle through ideas of social impact and what living it out entailed for people of all backgrounds.

Still, the concluding theme around alumni's desire to engage and support current students rang clearly. We hope to run an event for current Yale-NUS students in early November to share about how some of us navigated this journey of graduating from YNC and figuring out where to channel our social impact passions. Details are in the works, so watch this space!

P.S. Our pose on Zoom is a reflection of the new YNPACt logo: a Kingfisher emerging from the Y in YNPACt, ready to extend its shared takeaways to the world. Check out the logo on our Facebook and LinkedIn.