Feature

Jobs-ICT workshop
Fighting for the competitive edge


Nazia Ahmed

With an urge to create an opportunity for the students as well as profe sionals to identify and plan their career path and practical skills to gain the competitive edge in the workplace, JOBS-ICT private limited in partnership with JOBS Bangladesh hosted it's soft skill development workshop last week on the 10th of November. With about 120 participants at Spectra Convention centre, this workshop featured a wide range of activities involving Career planning, CV writing and interview skills.

JOBS-ICT Private Limited (JIPL) team members come from Bangladesh, Pakistan, France, Japan and United States. With a collective experience in human resource management, ICT education, ICT sector development and private sector development; they have a network of partners that included ICT companies like CISCO sysytem, Sun Microsystem, USAID and Government of Bangladesh.

In the workshop that was held on the 10th, JIPL and its team led breakout sessions that divided the participants into three groups; each one led by expatriate moderators featuring hands-on practical exercises. Industrial psychologist and human resources specialist Tatiana Pavlovsky led the sessions in a lecture format, while the breakout sessions were moderated by international expatriates including Elli Takagaki (CEO and co-founder of JIPL), Erika Hoffman-Kiess (Director of JIPL and Deputy Country representative of JOBS Bangladesh), Terrina Wong (Project Management expert) and Scott Merrill (Program Consultant).

Bank Alfalah sponsored the event, partnering with JIPL to influence and improve the quality of the available workforce. Mr. Majedur Rahman, Country Director of Bank Alfalah Bangladesh, presided as the guest speaker providing a motivational address for the participants.

Some feedbacks gathered from the participants:

“I experienced group work that required criticizing CVs of others and how a bad interviewee would look and perform, which were the most interesting ones among the activities.” Says Sarwat Zabeen.

“It is true that in Bangladesh, most graduates and undergraduates are clueless about their career goals; better yet have any idea what approach they should take in order to reach a goal. Workshops such as these help them understand better the loopholes which exist and prove to be a very good career guide.” says M Sabbir Hasan.

“Its interesting how we found out that self evaluation integrates into career planning.” Says Adnan Hossain.

“The group work and presentations were skillfully designed to bring out our dormant ideas. They really helped us understand ourselves and be motivated.” Says Afrina Islam.

To make the workshop more interesting, there were quiz competitions that got active participation from the crowd.

“Due to overwhelming response, we had to close the registration early and we will schedule additional sessions very soon.” Says JIPL team.

“From the experience we have had so far with Bangladeshi job seekers, we realized how necessary it was to develop such programs. I am very happy to see the response and enthusiasm and to see the future generation of Bangladesh actively step up.” Said Ms. Pavlovsky.