Youths experience assessment scenarios in career fest

With the goal of familiarising the graduates of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) to the corporate world, BUP Career Club just pulled off their first ever online career fest. Through this three-day long event, they tried to provide career opportunities to around one thousand graduates from 16 departments. The flagship event had been arranged in-person last five years. However, due to pandemic, it had to be shifted online this year for the first time.

The opening ceremony was held with necessary precautions. The guests were made sure to have sanitised before entering the auditorium. Inside the auditorium, the seating arrangement was designed in a way whereby the six-feet-distancing protocol could be maintained properly.

The president and the moderator of the club set the stage for the ceremony. Then the vice-chancellor (VC) of BUP, the chairman of the Department of Business Administration, the special guest Hadi S A Chowdhury and the General Manager of Beximco -- all delivered their speeches and the VC was handed a crest as a memento. With this year's Career Fest, the dean of the Faculty of Business Studies retired.

After the ceremony, the grand launch was held as the VC inaugurated the official website to begin the first ever CV dropping window online. This year, they introduced a unique concept of 3D booths where 25 leading multinational and local companies including Grameenphone, Banglalink, bKash, and many more participated. The CV dropping portal was closed at 10 pm on October 22.

In addition, there were virtual sessions conducted by industry experts. On October 21, there was a live webinar on 'Adapting to change in career and life' held by one of the alumni of BUP, Shabab Ishmam, currently working in IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad), a Swedish company. Four more webinars were held on the next day. Rashed Noman, country director of Augmedix, shared insights about career planning while Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, deputy commissioner (DC) talked about the public and private job market of Bangladesh. In addition, Md Sohan Haidear, founder and CEO of Smartifier Academy talked about boosting work-from-home productivity. And finally, the day was wrapped up with a session on interview skills by Ghulam Sumdany Don, chief inspirational officer of Don Sumdany Facilitation.

Title partner for the event was Yellow while the other partners included The Financial Express Bangladesh as print media partner, Radio Carnival as radio partner, Interactive Cares as technology partner, and Checkmate Events as photography partner.

"The experiences and the lessons learnt from leading the team of 130 amazingly talented people under such challenging circumstances will be something I can implement in my career on the days to come. A journey I will cherish forever," said Ahnaf Shahriar Abeer, the president of BUP Career Club. This is the signature event of the BUP Career Club. Every year, numerous top companies across the country are invited to join this grand event. However, this year's programme was seriously under question mark due to the current crisis situation. "For the first time, we implemented the unique concept of 3D booths, and the entry application procedure was conducted via our event website," explained Ahnaf about overcoming the situation and holding the programme successfully.

BUP Career Club-- starting in 2016-- is a platform for the BUP students to facilitate university-industry alliance. It is the primary point of contact for some of the topmost organisations. BUP Career Club facilitates the recruitment process of fresh graduates by placing them in assessment scenarios with prospective employers. It also equips them with necessary skills and insights to excel in their respective workplaces. The club fosters opportunities for students throughout the academic calendar with many events among which, BUP Career and Education Fest is the annual flagship event.

The article has been prepared with the help of Marjuka Ahmed Chowdhury and Anika Haq from BUP Career Club