Career Development Center holds Career Design Fair for the first time in the Nae:il lounge. Photo provided by Career Development Center.
A chick mascot guides students to the Career Design Fair. Photo provided by Career Development Center.
Students view diverse roadmaps presented in the Daesan Gallery. Photo provided by Career Development Center.

From April 2 to 5, the Ewha Career Development Center (CDC) held its Career Design Fair, an annual event for freshmen in Ewha to help them guide their future career. The fair took place in the Daesan Gallery and the Nae:il Lounge for four days from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s fair was the first time the Career Design Fair was held in the Nae:il Lounge.

The programs were separated into two parts: e-Qurator and CDC-4-U. The “e-Qurator” was an exhibition opened for students to investigate various career roadmaps. Diverse fields of jobs including finance, entrepreneurship, design and broadcasting were presented in maps so that freshmen could grasp an idea of what activities and studies they should focus on for their career in the future. At the end of the exhibition, mentors gave short explanations to the students about the career roadmaps and how they can use the maps in the THE Portfolio on the school website. 

Booths at the Nae:il Lounge were the main features of this year’s Career Design Fair. There were six different booths in total and two mentors were placed in each one. The first booth was about the programs that support students’ career search. Mentors explained how CDC provides various programs, such as ROTC preparation classes, mentoring schools, series of graduate lecturers working in diverse fields, and a matching program that enables undergraduates to contact graduate students who are working in fields that interest undergraduates. 

The second booth introduced curricular activities Ewha provides to students each semester. Students were given a timeline that showed how they could narrow down their interests through the school’s curricular programs by each grade. 

Other booths delved deeper into more specific topics, like preparing for national exams, enrolling in internships, and applying to domestic and international enterprises. In these booths, after a brief overview from the mentors, the discussion mainly proceeded through mentee’s inquiries.

“Some students come for basic knowledge like the process of a certain exam, while some come for more specific explanations. So the consultation time changes based on the questions they ask,” said Cho Hwa-jin, a graduate student from the national exam booth. 

Not only was the fair for freshmen, but it was also a chance for the mentors to give advice based on their trials and errors to the first-year students. 

“The reason I joined this Career Design Fair is because I didn’t want freshmen to feel lost at the start of university life,” said Cho Eun-bi, a senior majoring in Public Administration. 

“Blazing my path in finding the activities and studies needed for a certain job I wanted was hard for me when I was a freshman. By informing them on these diverse programs, I wish reaching their goals will be easier.”

Aside from mentors, freshmen who participated in the fair noted that they received helpful advice. 

“It was helpful to know step-by-step activities needed for future employment in the e-Qurator exhibition,” commented Choi Jeong-hye, a freshman majoring in Cyber Security. 

“But I would have preferred to see more examples for each field. It was nice to know the programs Ewha provides for students. I anticipate on receiving much help by engaging in these programs.”

This year’s fair held significance in that the change of location was appropriate along with the additional modifications in the program’s purpose. 

“Previously, the fair had focused on promoting career search programs Ewha offers,” said Yim Seul-ki, a staff member of CDC. “This year we aimed to deliver the importance of searching for jobs and planning the ways to reach them. In addition to this purpose we wanted to notify freshmen with the support systems in Ewha they can benefit from.

 

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