National University of Singapore's Centre for Future-ready Graduates has come out with a pilot programme on career preparedness for undergraduates beginning this year, announced Prof. Ho Teck Hua, NUS Senior Deputy President and Provost, during the opening ceremony of NUS Career Fest 2018.
The two-day NUS Career Fest 2018 is hosting 260 employers with 4,000 job offers in 21 industries this year and about 10,000 NUS students and alumni are participating. More than 600 NUS students are currently enrolled in the new programme known as Career Catalyst.
NUS Career Fest 2018:
- Tuesday, 30 January and Friday, 2 February 2018
- 10:00AM – 6:00PM
- Multi-Purpose Sports Hall 1 & 2 and "The Launch Pad" at the University Sports Centre
The program is offered to second and third-year undergraduates now and is likely to be extended to students from all NUS in the future, said Prof. Ho. "The future of work in Singapore and around the world is changing rapidly. Our students need to be nimble to adapt to the changing landscape... so that we can better prepare our students to be future-ready for the world."
In 2016, NUS introduced the life skills program called Roots & Wings and based on the feedback, introduced "Career Catalyst" this year in collaboration with the prospective employers. "This programme will help students kickstart their career planning early," Prof Ho added.
Essentially, Career Catalyst is a 12-week course, improved upon the life skills program Roots & Wings to maximise students' potential in their academic journey, career pursuits and personal life. The students can design their personalised career roadmaps, equip themselves with the essential skills to effectively market their personal marque for career success through three dimensions: "Knowing Yourself", "Building Your Brand" and "Telling Your Story", explained Prof. Ho.
Ms Joan Tay, Director of NUS CFG, said, "NUS CFG acts as a facilitator in their career preparation process by motivating students to start thinking early about how they can build their career. This will help steer our students in the right direction to prepare for a workplace that is evolving constantly."
Otherwise, this year's Career Fest is being held over two days on 30 January and 2 February 2018, and the employers included Airbus, Toyota Tsusho Asia Pacific, Uniqlo, Singapore Airlines and Dentsu Singapore.
Life Sciences undergraduate Regina Tan, one of the graduates seeking to pursue a career in healthcare or biotechnology when she graduates in May this year, said, "The annual career fair is a helpful resource for job-seeking undergraduates as it brings together many companies at one location. You can get a sense of which the growing companies are and what programmes they offer. It also provides a good opportunity to network with their human resource staff or join their mailing list for future job openings. You can also conveniently deposit your resume with all the companies that you are interested in at the event."
Another student Tan Jun Xiang, 25, who landed a job soon after graduating from National University of Singapore (NUS) in July last year, said that it is important to be open-minded and well-prepared before attending a career fair. "Sometimes, what you've learnt in school is not applicable or specific enough to your work and you may need to study again to pick up new knowledge or skills," he says. "So work hard to adapt to the new working environment."
