Seniors Getting Ready for the World of Work
An important aspect of The American University in Cairo (AUC) is preparing its students for the next chapter of their lives after they graduate and start crafting their careers. The Seniors Employability Experience (SEE), organized by the Career Center, is a week-long event that happens twice a year and caters to seniors and graduating seniors, exposing them to the corporate world and bridging the gap between their academics and the practical world.
The event took place in the third week of November, and it involved Mock Interviews with a variety of professionals from various fields and industries, getting constructive feedback from them, and having it tailored to each interviewee so that they know what needs to be improved. The event also included a Career Coffee Chat hour that occurred with a different professional every day of that week. Students had the opportunity to ask questions that they could think of and learn from the professional’s success story and the obstacles that they had to face till they got to where they are today.
The Senior Employability Conference (SEC) was one of the event’s highlights that happened on Friday, November 23, and it had several sessions handling important topics that the participants needed to be aware of. The day started with the aptly named session “Brand Yourself as YOU Transition to the Workplace,” which was given by Tamer Younes, Member of the Executive Board at P&G Egypt and Head of Corporate Affairs, who focused on the importance of an individual's self-image in the workforce. He emphasized that one’s attitudes and mannerisms construct their brand. He also talked about the significance of workplace relations, saying, “ It is important for you to know what makes you happy, what makes you fulfilled and more importantly, whether you have good relationships with people as you pursue these goals.” He elaborated on this by stressing that these relations can change how you view your job and how long you stay in it.
In addition to another interesting topic tackled during the day, the “Career Decision Making - Build Your Career RoadMap” session that was held by Caroline Nassar, the Senior Career Advisor at the AUC Career Center. She focused on untangling the confusion that surrounds what we aspire to be in the future. Nassar pointed out that our priorities change as we grow older. She talked about how it is important that we don’t lose track of who we are and confuse it with what we want, relating it to an interaction that she had with an alumnus. He told her that he’d been stuck in his job for 20 years and that he wasn’t happy with where he was because he felt that there was always a reason that forced him to stay put, like financial security or promotions. She concluded that it is never too late to discover your passion and pursue it. Ali Mansour, a Film and Marketing graduating senior, who attended the conference for the first time, added, “ I am glad that the event didn’t focus on a specific career but instead equipped participants with powerful skills that they could apply anywhere in their life.”
The Senior Employability Experience was successful at capturing the attention of several students and passing down insightful knowledge that would come in handy when they start their professional lives.