The HU Career Connect 2021 had students and alumni put their best foot forward for the event. The annual event took place on the 13th of February where students from all batches exchanged CVs, nervous chatter, and glances to the bright future that lay ahead in the form of numerous job prospects.
The campus was host to various renowned companies such as Zindagi Trust, Ibex, and UBL which offered several employment opportunities as well as internship opportunities to the Habib student community. Ajab Afsanay reached out to a few attendees of the event to include their take on the success of the event, the challenges that they faced while conversing with employers, and the benefits of having an on-campus career fair (unlike last year when it was held online).
1. How helpful was the event?
“Attending the fair as a sophomore was extremely helpful I believe as I am now prepared for what to expect the next year and how to prepare a resume and how to go about the whole process. Contrary to what many companies wondered which was that fresh batches such as sophomores and freshmen may not have helpful opportunities in abundance at the event, I still believe it gave useful insight into the entire employment application experience.”
-Anonymous 1
SDP 2023
“It was quite helpful but there were a lot of job opportunities specifically for 2021 and the people in their junior year. There were a lot of companies from a very vast field. On the other hand, talking from the perspective of a CND student, it was quite difficult for a person like me who is a sophomore with negligible experience in graphic designing because very few courses are being offered in Habib in terms of that thing so there were no such opportunities for me.”
-Ajab Shabbir
CND 2023
“The event was very helpful. It gave me insights on how to go about my career prospects after undergraduate. I got an idea of what jobs or what career opportunities would be available to me as a ‘Social Development and Policy’ student so I found it really helpful. It gave me a lot of exposure and I got to talk to a lot of representatives from different companies that suited my areas of interests.”
-Fabiha Moin
SDP 2023
2. What differences have you noticed in the opportunities due to COVID?
“Most of the employers we were in conversation with informed us about internship opportunities for sophomores that maybe we could look into but only with the drawback that those opportunities were all very remote, which I assume is due to the pandemic.”
-Anonymous 1
SDP 2023
“Bohot saari opportunities remote ho gayi hain [A lot of job opportunities are now remote]. You can work from home. Apki ye content writing waghera [Your usual content writing etc.], video editing, etc. – they have gone online and can be done from home.”
-Anonymous 2
SDP 2023
3. Were there plenty of job opportunities that suited your degree?
“Since I am a sophomore, inquiries about employment opportunities were met with internship offers since we are a fresh batch. However, most companies were looking for students in the fields of content writing, web-designing, social media marketing etcetera so I don’t think there were opportunities in abundance for SDP students but I wouldn’t say that there were none either.”
-Anonymous 1
SDP 2023
“I was not looking for a job particularly but CS kay liye [but for CS] I saw a lot of startups that were particularly offering CS students jobs of software engineers. So, I saw more jobs for DSSE students in comparison to SDP students.”
-Anonymous 2
SDP 2023
4. Were SOPs being followed?
“The SOPs were being followed although at some point I did feel that the main venue area got too overcrowded but overall everyone was wearing masks and people were maintaining distance and at some points, they were not but overall I could say yes, SOPs were being followed”
-Fabiha Moin
SDP 2023
“Yes, the SOPs were in place and were being followed by both, the companies and the attending students.”
-Anonymous 1
SDP 2023
5. Do you think it would've been better if it was conducted on Zoom (like last year)?
“I really don’t think it would have been nearly the same had it been conducted over zoom. Interviews and application procedures online do not provide that one-on-one conversation with the person the way in-person experiences do. I am actually very surprised that the management was able to pull off an event such as this amidst a pandemic while following all the SOPs.”
-Anonymous 1
SDP 2023
“It would not have been better at all if it were to be conducted on Zoom like last year. Never. Not at all because it is a whole lot of different experience when you interact with someone in-person and then on a Zoom meeting. It is a good opportunity to speak physically because you can put an impression, you can just speak, you can show your confidence. You are you when you are physically talking to someone but on Zoom, it’s quite difficult like you have to open your camera and stuff like that. It’s quite a different experience.”
-Ajab Shabbir
CND 2023
The responses from the student community show that mostly, HU Career Connect 2021 was a success, especially considering all the restrictions that have to be put in place due to COVID-19. The event served to be very engaging for students from all batches at Habib as they found internship and employment opportunities that suited their interests, as well as those that excited new interests within.
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