Career Fair at GCU draws in thousands of students

LAHORE: Career Fair 2013 at the Government College University (GCU) Lahore on Thursday received an enthusiastic response as thousands of university graduates and final year students flocked to the fair to explore employment opportunities in reputed international and national organisations, besides seeking information about the available foreign scholarships.

Never put all your eggs in one basket!

The secret of keeping your hopes alive during a job search is to always have alternatives. Never keep all your efforts and hopes focused on few approaches.

There are twelve alternative ways of looking for work. They are:

GSK organises Orange Day

Following is a good example of Corporate social responsibility by GlaxoSmithKline for students in the area of career guidance.  

KARACHI – GlaxoSmithKline has organized an educational and fun-filled Orange Day-2012. The Orange Day was divided into one on one interactive career counseling, creative writing/drawing contest around the theme ‘My vision if I were the President of Pakistan’, an engaging museum tour, singing competition, and lunch.

GSK leveraged its strength of a diversified group of people from various academic backgrounds and 25 GSK employees, doing various roles across the organization, volunteered as counselors for the Orange Day 2012. Each of these counselors had been designated to counsel approximately 4 students, who had expressed their interest in particular fields prior to counseling, over a period of an hour and a half.

Field of Dreams

By Sumaiya Lakhani

A tomato field is an unlikely place to find inspiration, but amid the trees, mud and growing shoots, there it was: Inspiration with a capital ‘I’.

As odd as that may sound, what’s even odder is that it came as I saw a corporate banker jump over a mound, followed by a gaggle of giggling students in matching beige uniforms.

This was the moment when I got my first glimpse of the mentor-mentee relationship that forms the basis of The Citizen Foundation’s Rahbar programme.

Started in 2008, Rahbar is a mentorship programme that aims at the development of Pakistan’s youth on many levels. It’s come a long way since its humble beginnings and now includes over 1,000 volunteer mentors who have reached out to about 4,500 students in different cities.

Green economy in Pakistan

In a recent Observer Pakistan article  government highlight the importance of green economy in Pakistan. This could be translated into many new jobs in a green economic sector!

"Chairing the opening session, Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission said that time has come to revisit policies and rethink discourse according to green economy concept. He said that current policy framework and ways of managing resources in the country has become obsolete. Talking of government’s relevance in shaping and managing the economy, he urged, it’s time to think holistically about the economy and productivity in creative and focused manner while exploring the linkages between growth and green economy."

The concept of "a job for life"

The concept of "a job for life" is fading as our workplaces grow ever more responsive to the accelerated pace of technological change and shifts in the global economy. A "career" is now seen as the process of managing life, learning and work across the lifespan. This means that lifelong learning is no longer an abstract concept but a vital necessity for navigating an increasingly fluid and complex economic landscape....!

What do you think about it....!

Academic and Career Counseling from the Grassroots Level

The student population of Pakistan, in general, is becoming increasingly confused as it steps out of the educational institutions and into the professional environment. This confusion may well be traced back to the early, school-going years of the students, when they are not generally given the freedom to acquire education that follows their individual interests. This article focuses on the need for parents and academic instructors/counselors to identify the children's fields of interests, and to give them the freedom to strive and excel in those fields, so their minds may remain constantly receptive over the years.

Written By Sufyan Aquil

When observing the education scene in Pakistan, the common phrases to hear are: “it has become commercialized”, “it has become a money-making machine”, “it has become a ‘business’ industry rather than a platform for public welfare”, and so on. Hearing such observations, one can do nothing but nod helplessly in agreement, and wonder where things have taken a turn for the worse.