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| Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
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'Are you ready?' : An example set by the undergraduates of Moratuwa
The problem is not employment; there are ample opportunities in the field, if you consider both the private and public sectors. The problem is finding the right job. Having a vision, an aspiration, and following it is equally important for today's youth just as much as a decent salary. And if young engineers in Sri Lanka have trouble realizing their dreams, well nothing much can be said for the other undergraduates.
This is why the Rotaract Club in collaboration with The Career Guidance Unit of the University of Moratuwa is organizing for the 9th consecutive time the "Are You Ready?" careers day, which will not only help the young engineers find about the broad spectrum of work that they can choose from but also give them a clear perspective of what kind of criteria the companies look for.
The Careers Day which will be held on September 7, will include presentations from different companies such as MIT, Mass Holdings, DIMO, CTC etc. It will also include mock interviews of different companies so that students get to face actual interviews and at the end receive the feedback from the interviewers themselves. The feedback session where the interview panelists and the university authorities constructively evaluate the participant's performance will also discuss areas for improvement. The wonderful thing about this concept is that not only do the students get to know about these companies but they also develop a sense of what thesepeople want. And to top it all off, most of these young people will be offered a job, there itself. The other student names will be published in the Graduate Recruitment Directory of the Careers Day, and also in the webpage www.areyouready.mrt.ac.lk which will include a short CV, so that other companies can get the recruitment information they need.
"We started the Careers Day in 1997, with just three companies", says Thilina Gunarathne the Secretary of the Rotaract Club, "and now we're doing it with 30 different companies and usually more than 50 students get recruited. Also the companies that come here are very eager indeed, because for them, they get to choose from the best of the best." Swetha Perera, a last year student and also a senior member of the Rotaract club says, "Waiting for the government to do something for us is absurd, here we can directly get involved with the industry and that sort of thing gives us a leading edge. I'm really looking forward to this."
The fact that the presentations range from Engineering, Architecture, Information Technology and additional qualifications such as CIMA, BCS, BIT, BBA etc., gives the students of Moratuwa University a wide selection of material that they can choose from. The interviews will only be held for the final year students, but the company presentations will be open for the entire undergraduate population of the university, so the first year students will also be able to select their specialization on a practical basis. This will help the first years of course to choose between the different fields of engineering which will ultimately be a major decision in their lifelong career. This project has also won the award for the Best Professional Development Project of the Rotaract District 3220 Sri Lanka. Commenting on this Surangika Ranathunga the Project chairperson of the Rotaract Club said, "Dr Rohan Tittagala the Director of Career guidance has always been with us throughout and also Dean faculty of Engineering Pro.Ananda Jayawardena and former Dean Pro.Malik Ranasinghe helped us a lot in achieving this goal." She also thanked all the other head of Departments as well as the entire career guidance unit for their strength and support.Lalinda Karunaratne the President of the Rotaract Club also shared his views on the occasion; "I believe there's a gap between the industry and the graduates who are passing out today. The graduates think that their specialization is good enough for a certain job, but in the industry they think otherwise. They want something more. And this is a good platform to minimize this gap and create an understanding between them." It's definitely a treat to see these young people stand-up for themselves without just going on unhealthy strikes and all that hot air. The University claims that unlike other Universities in the country they haven't engaged in any sort of picketing whatsoever for the past decade or so. And with proactive programs like this it's hard to say that they ever will need for such activities. So this not only sets a good example for other Universities to follow but also sets an example to most of the other Institutions in Sri Lanka which also have an on-going crisis. The University also has a truly peaceful and serene nature to itself and it can be seen on all the hard working faces that you meet there. It's not just the healthy environment but also the attitude these young undergraduates share. Their aspiration and enthusiasm to build a whole new world is truly admirable, and this Careers Day will hopefully grant them the strength to realize their own dreams and also the path to pursue them. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Completed your A'Ls with the island best results, gone to University,
got an engineering degree, and now what? You're stranded in the middle of
nowhere. And the worst part is the people around you think that you know
everything.
