On March 6th, 10 alumni were invited to our Annual Asian Studies Careers Night to share their stories and wisdom with over 60 student participants. The event began with a keynote from Ms. Rachael Bedlington, Consul General of Canada in Guangzhou, and then proceeded into a panel discussion between alumni Mr. Richard Liu, BA ’93, Ms. Christine Park, BA ’11, and Ms. Jennifer Ward, BA ’12, about being an Asian Studies graduate in today’s job market.
Following a dinner, catered by Tandoori Fusion, discussion broke off into their respective tables and students rotated among alumni for the rest of the evening. We would like to thank the staff, volunteers, alumni and our student moderator, Ms. Joelle lee for making this year’s event a success. Finally, Ms. Bedlington regretted that her connection interrupted her presentation and wanted to share this extra note regarding recruitment at Global Affairs Canada:
“On recruitment, essential points were that GAC has been piloting a new approach, not utilizing the Public Service Recruitment channel, but recruiting through an internship model – students drawn from universities in Canada do two back-to-back internships of 4 months, so for 8 months in total, and those who do well and have an interest, have an opportunity for employment. Also, students’ proficiency in both official languages is important – students are expected to bring this with them now, rather than be trained in-house, as used to be the case.”
