Feature

Career development and job fair: Behind the Scene

Muhammad Muzahidul Islam Patowary

It was a tremendous experience to organize such a gala event that is for the first time in the history of the department of marketing. We always felt that the need for arranging a program on career development to be competent in the job market. So, we formed an informal group to plan and work out the program. Me, Didar, Saikat, Kaoser were included in the group. We spent hours together to design the objectives and contents of the program. We talked to our honorable chairman sir. He assigned our placement director Afjal sir and Shah sir to look over the program. We than worked hard to make all the files and proposals to be offered to various corporate houses. Shah sir and Afjal sir spent long time to make sure that there is no error in the proposal. Then the fieldwork begins. We made groups and assigned 5 or 6 companies to each group to communicate. We ran from one company to another and tried to convince them to participate on the occasion. It took one month and a half to make sure that all the giants are present in the fair. Simultaneously, we tried to persuade the organizations to be our sponsors. We have both bitter and sweet experiences on that communications. But we didn't lose our confidence. We were confident enough to have very good response.

We got the sponsorship from Maersk Bangladesh Ltd., Bitopi Adverting, Prime Bank Ltd. and Unitrend Ltd. We are very grateful to The Daily Star because they agreed spontaneously to be our media partner after we approached. Finally the much-waited day appeared. We were very much excited and nervous. But within few hours when the fair premise turned out to be a crowded area our nervousness just evaporated and we become confident: yeah, the fair will be successful. The response from the job seekers and employers were outstanding. In the seminar, the participants also enjoyed lectures on career related topics. I hereby thank all the participating firms for their true presence in the fair. It was spectacular to have all the giants of the corporate world under one roof for two days. I pay my gratitude to the HR directors and managers who made the seminar very much enjoyable and meaningful. The program would not be successful without the help from our valuable sponsors. Sherin, Arman and Shormi of the institutes of fine arts did unbelievable and wonderful task to design the entrance gate of the fair. At last, on behalf of the organizers I would like to thank all the volunteers from 9th batch for their effort to make us successful. I hope the event will become a regular phenomenon for the department of marketing.

(Muhammad Muzahidul Islam Patowary. BBA 8^th Batch, Department of Marketing)

SM Didarul Hassan

Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka has organized a two-day seminar on “Career Development” and a Job Fair in the premises of the faculty of business studies on 16 and 17 September 2006. The students of the 8th Batch organized the program. According to the faculty students it was single biggest seminar sessions and job fair for the faculty ever. The giant corporate houses including Unilever, Standard Chartered, HSBC, CityCell, Maersk logistics, Bitopi Advertising, Bashundhara group, PRAN group, The City Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Unitrend, Ace's High, Australian Immigration Signet consultancy, ACI had set up their stalls in the fair and got huge response.

The two-day seminar sessions were conductedin the auditorium of the faculty of business studies. The students of different disciplines had attended there to hear, learn and upgrade their knowledge about recruitment challenges in the age of globalization, the techniques of making smart resumes, to know how to face the nerve-racking viva-voce, career planning etc. in the different sessions. The HR head/director/ managers of different companies have attended and given their advices and made their presentations. Among them Mr. Q M Shahed of British American Tobacco, Mr. Dinesh Bidappa, Unilever, Syed A H Uddin, HSBC, Arif Shahriar, Rahimafrooz have presented their very worthwhile, fabulous and interactive sessions. The seminar participants were listening and grasping their enchanting presentations.

“The objective of the program was to make the students prepare for their upcoming battle of corporate arena and to strengthen the relationship between faculty students and the corporate houses”- says one of the organizers. “And the program is partially successful because the corporate houses participated and praised the effort made by us” he added. Actually it was a well-organized and a planned effort by the students. They have shown their capability and potential for managing a massive event successfully. The chairman of the Marketing Department, the placement director, the program adviser, the student adviser and other teachers of the department all have given their special endeavor to make the program successful. The response from the job seekers and employers were outstanding. The students were feeling the need for arranging such a program on career development and job fair which will give them an opportunity to come closure to the employers and the job market. And now they feel they have get the proper exposure what they need. They will try to organize this type of program every year.

SM Didarul Hassan
BBA 8^th Batch
Department of Marketing

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