It has been about three years since a working group of students took the first steps towards what is now My Future: a website on which all the career activities organized by various TU/e bodies (from study associations to, say, the TU/e Career Academy) are being brought together. “Signposting of sorts for your future,” as Van Boekel describes the initiative. Aimed mainly at students (PhD candidates are also welcome), the site intends to help its users look further afield than the activities program of their own study association or department.

According to Van Boekel (himself a student of Mechanical Engineering), the site is reasonably well visited, “but of course there's always room for improvement”. So for the past six months a campaigns committee has been busy within the My Future collective, and the forthcoming My Future Day is one of the events it has set up. On the day, Wednesday April 25, the program will include a wide range of activities by various providers: from a symposium to lunchtime lectures and training sessions, which will be held at various sites on campus.

Van Boekel hopes to encourage Eindhoven's students to start giving a little more thought to their (future) careers, “to what you want to do later on, and the skills you'll need to do it”. Because, as he warns: “It is very easy to think, ‘I'm studying at TU Eindhoven so I'm bound to get a job’. But the question is whether it's a job that suits you and your intended career path.” He continues: “The salary's not likely to be a problem. But there's a difference between job security and employability security - between keeping a job and being able to stay employed in a succession of jobs over the years, stepping easily into some very nice jobs.”

For more info and to enroll in the various activities, check out the site.Some activities are in English; in most cases participation is free.