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【Career Development】Career Consultation Reflection by GHRM MBA student Andy Teo with Career Consultant Ms. Wanda Yang

In response to globalization and the pursuit of academic-industrial cooperation, the College of Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, established its Office of Career Development (OCD) in 2020, aimed at equipping students with competencies in business ethics, global economic trends, and career development. The office is working relentlessly to collaborate with NSYSU alumni and offer one-on-one online consultancy services to both local and international students in the College of Management, NSYSU.

Pic 1 OCD Career Consultant Ms. Wanda Yang

If you have attended events organized by the Office of Career Development (OCD), especially those sharing from the alumni, you should often hear them mention “All of you should make good use of the resources provided by NSYSU. Regardless of whether it is the scholarships for an overseas exchange program, sharing from industry experts, career consultation, resume review, etc. All these resources can effectively enhance your student life and even improve your chance of landing a good job once you graduate”. Upon hearing this and pondering about how I could get myself an internship at a prestigious company, this April, I decided to sign up for the career consultation service to see if there is anything I could do better to improve my chances.

 

I believe that many students who have not participated in any of the career consultation sessions might more or less feel intimidated. Just one quick look at the career consultants’ background and you would get the jitter. But fret not, today I am here to share with you my experience and what you could do to prepare yourself for the session.

 

To begin with, interested students can head over to the OCD’s career consultation website. On the page, you can have an overall view of the career consultants’ background and their areas of specialty. For students who are unsure of what career path to pursue upon graduation, you can make use of this chance to find out more about the respective fields that you might be interested in from the career consultants. Once you identified the consultant, you can head over to the registration page to select the most suitable timing (do note that you will need to first log in with your NSYSU student account). Alternatively, you can also seek OCD’s assistant to register for the session.

 

Prior to registration, students are required to prepare 2 sets of questions for the consultation service. You must be thinking, “Hold on a minute, what? Two sets of questions? What should I ask?!”. Like many of you, I too felt lost and was afraid of asking “stupid questions”. But then again, sharing with you one of my favorite quotes of all time “There is no such thing as a stupid question if it's sincere. Better to ask and risk appearing stupid than to continue on your ignorant way and make a stupid mistake”. So, simply ask away! Taking myself as an example, as someone who has a strong interest in HR, when I saw Ms. Wanda’s profile, I knew that she would be the right person to consult with. As for the two sets of questions, I am more than willing to share with you what I have asked but do note that the questions should be unique to you and based on what you wish to achieve from the consultation. These questions should serve as a reference, and you need not use the same questions. 

 

For my first question: I would like to seek your view on what the future of HR would be like, and what skillsets should the future HR professionals possess. Based on this question, Ms. Wanda shared that “The future of HR would differ greatly from the past and even the current HR practice. Technology has not just brought about advancements but also disruptions. Many of the traditional HR practices would be replaced with technologies like Artificial Intelligent (AI). Take recruitment, for example, a part of the current recruitment process like resume screening can be done by AI. As such, knowing how to program AI would be a valuable skill set in the future.”.

 

For my second question: If I wish to jump to a new industry or travel abroad to work as an HR professional, how can I prepare myself to increase my chance of having such an opportunity? Regarding this, Ms. Wanda provided the following advice:

1. Mastering different languages would be a huge plus point, especially the language of the country that you intend to work in.

2. Read more about the industry that you are interested in and look out for skills that are crucial for the future. Once you have identified them, start to upgrade yourself by attending courses or training workshops.

3. Make good use of social media platforms like LinkedIn. Such platforms are good at widening your view and can serve as a bridge to link you and the multinational corporations, especially those companies in the west, for potential job opportunities.

 

Within the short span of 30 minutes, I truly felt that I have benefited greatly. Upon hearing that I am looking for a summer internship, to my surprise, Ms. Wanda offered to pass my CV to her HR department in Yulon Nissan Motor, to discuss further. Furthermore, what humbled me the most was that even after the consultation, Ms. Wanda, in her limited free time, sent me an email with a link to a podcast that she previously participated in, talking about HR-related matters. I bet even you are as surprised as to how far Ms. Wanda was willing to go for a student that she only met for 30 minutes. All I can say is that what our alumni shared at the beginning of the article was true. Do make good use of the resources that are provided by the school or the College of Management, and grab hold of any opportunities to network with the alumni. Don’t be on the losing end by missing out on such great opportunities. If you have any inquiries, you may feel free to email ocd@cm.nsysu.edu.tw

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