CAREER ROADSHOW

November 21, 2018
SENTRUM

The speakers from Optum.

The career roadshow is an activity addressed to the graduating students, it is a form of practice when the real thing happens. There are career talks, training, and mock interviews. This was organized by the college guidance and counseling center (CGCC) and the career placement. The organizers handed out an application form which will later on be submitted to the person who will interview you.

There were three speakers and each one tackled different fields. Although two of the speakers came from the same company, it only shows that there are several departments in one company.  To get a glimpse of the different fields, specifically industrial work in a hospital you may read it here. (https://jshappenings.blogspot.com/2018/08/hospital-admitting-staff-for-month.html) The first speaker discussed the company she works for, which is Optum. It is a business processing outlet that focuses on the medical field. Her role in the company is on computer programming. There were some technical terms she used that computer science and information systems would understand. Other than the specifics on programming she shared some valuable tips when getting into to the job, the transition from being a fresh graduate to a young professional.

The ABC's

1. A - Appreciate college experience
2. B - Be Ready
3. C - Conquer the world

The second speaker has medical background. A registered nurse not only in one country, but two. Her talk focused on competency. She had a slow run in her first years of working, due to the high demand for nurses back then, which produced way too many supply with no paying jobs. These are her own personal steps climbing the career ladder. Even if her talk was about competency,  she greatly made an impact with her insights on patience. She may have volunteered for more than four years but when the right time arrived she got promoted every four months all the way to  her current position as a senior manager.

1. Finish your studies
2. Work for free
3. Invest in self-development
4. Don't be afraid to explore
5. Find a workplace with values coinciding yours

The last speaker of the day, was a professor majored in literature and English. Her focus was on writing resumes. There is this website she endorsed call job180 where you can create an online
resume and apply for companies as well. The difference between other well-known jobsites is that companies will only find the applicant if s/he submitted to their company, otherwise they would not
contact you. This is where a lot of students were engaged. one reason was because it was needed for the graduating students for completion. Another reason was because the crowd was partly curious of the whole- I need 5 years experience thing on job descriptions.

1.  Make the best out of your experiences (Helped with the set-up of chairs of an event = Was part of the logistics team of an event)
2. Extra curricular and special interest activities can compensate the lack of experience especially for fresh graduates.
3. Always double check job descriptions, to see if your capabilities match the needs of the company.

A number of students did not get to attend the event due to thesis and OJT, nevertheless the CGCC and career placement did not lack on their efforts to make it possible. Their objectives of exposing the students to work environment was clear, it was just not strategically managed enough to engage the students. In the afternoon we had mock interviews, which I'll explain in a separate blog post.