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NEWS AND ACTIVITIES

UIC Alumni Career Talks

by Professor Chad Denton, Director of Alumni Relations &  Associate Director of the UIC  CDC,
Ashley Min (IS ‘19), Thi An Khanh Pham (ECON ‘17)

Poster for the UIC Alumni Career Talk in June

Few people at UIC realize the invisible work that one undergraduate organization has done to connect current students with UIC alumni. Since 2017 the Global Career Society (GCS) has actively worked with the UIC Career Development Center and Appenzeller House to organize a series of alumni talks aimed to inspire students, to broaden their horizon of possibilities, and to motivate them to start thinking about their post-graduation goals. In previous semesters, these talks were held at the Songdo and Sinchon campuses in person, allowing students and alumni to meet face to face. Starting in 2020, however, all alumni events were held over Zoom in compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures. But this transition to digital meet-ups successfully allowed UIC access to a greater range of Korean and international alumni across the globe. 

The first five events of the series were the “Ask Me Anything” talks, held in collaboration with the Appenzeller House residential assistants. They were open to participating Appenzeller RCs, GCS members, and the broader UIC community through the UIC CDC YSCEC page. During each talk, alumni candidly shared their own undergraduate and career experiences and answered questions submitted by students beforehand. Not surprisingly, many people wanted to know whether GPA or internships mattered or how an alum’s undergraduate major connected to their seemingly unrelated career field. But the alumni also gave more personal insights, describing their passions, work values, or techniques for managing the inevitable stress of their job.

Those who attended greatly appreciated the opportunity to interact directly with alumni. According to the post-event surveys, 107 out of 107 responses reflected positive student feedback, praising the alumni for the informative and practical discussion, with all the participants claiming they had learnt something new. Suggested improvements to future events included longer talks and more time for interaction with alumni.

Participating alumni in the April and May Alumni Talks

Though the target audience for the “Ask Me Anything” talks were first and second semester UIC students, the final alumni talk, the UIC Alumni Association Career Talk 2020, was actively publicized to all UIC students through the Career Development Center and with the support of the UIC office. Over 80 students attended to hear from 9 different alumni working in fields ranging from energy to marketing to law. They joined via Zoom from cities around the world, not only Seoul, but also New York City, Atlanta, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Though the alumni provided students with a variety of valuable advice, they especially encouraged students to be proactive. Whether their proactivity takes the form of searching for internships or reaching out to alumni, UIC students should try anything they can to open up opportunities for themselves. There is no single path to success, so it is up to every student to find their own.

In their own words, here are what some of the participants said they learned from all these talks: 

• Don’t stress so much. 

• You can find your passion after graduation. 

• The ability to critically write and speak is instrumental.

• The importance of exposing yourself to different opportunities and making use of my Yonsei network!

• Real estate isn't so boring after all.

• Future jobs don't have to be directly related to my major(s).

• Talk and spend time with professors or alumni who are in [your] field of interest.

• Take classes that I like because the skills gained would be beneficial to any future career. 

• Be more open and explore different opportunities rather than restricting myself into one career field.

• Be more active and meet new people to develop my career without only focusing on academics. 

• Tak[e] more classes that require presentations and papers.

• University is a setting where I can try whatever I want to before starting my career … take full opportunity of the courses, activities, [and] human networks that UIC and Yonsei University provide.

• I don't have to be a pioneer of my own path. There are plenty of people who have walked a variety of paths, and information is abundant on what to do and how to do it. Meet lots of people, try lots of new things, figure out what suits you best. There will always be people willing to help.

The 2020 Spring Semester Alumni talks took place in an unprecedented context, but that makes us all the more thankful for our alumni’s time. We hope that the alumni talks have motivated UIC students to begin thinking about how to build successful careers.

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