Get ready for the world of work virtually

Get ready for the world of work virtually

The challenges posed by COVID-19 outbreaks do not stop RMIT from preparing its students to be ready for the world of work through a range of virtual career activities.

RMIT Vietnam Career, Alumni and Industry Relations Regional Senior Manager Manuela Spiga said that her team effort in offering virtual career activities is “a part of RMIT Vietnam’s holistic approach to offer a full online university to its students, not just teaching and learning”.

“Our priority is to prepare our students throughout their tertiary journey from the very first day,” she said.

“It includes industry-based projects where students work on real life challenges with timelines and deliverables that simulate the work environment, company tours, guest speakers from all industries, internships, and more.

“Our conversion rate into full-time employment can vary from 65 to 90% in some sectors.”

Ms Spiga does not look at the pandemic and lockdowns as obstacles but “a great opportunity to innovate ourselves and engage our students”.

“All of the main activities we used to offer offline are now online,” she said.

“The online world does not have borders to cross which means that we can have guests from anywhere in the world, and this gives our students here in Vietnam the exposure and opportunity to interact with more international students and industry partners.”

news-1-get-ready-for-the-world-of-work-virtuallyA Mentoring session for Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management students took place in June 2021.

Ms Spiga shared the success of the Mentoring program as an example.

“Our Mentoring program has always been digitally driven where students have mentorship opportunities with over 350 active mentors across diverse industries,” she said.

“Since the launch in 2018, we have helped establish more than 700 mentoring partnerships, and started seeing more students forming virtual connections with mentors in Singapore, Melbourne, Europe, USA, India, and South Korea.”

Recently, the team merged two separate programs at Vietnam and Singapore campuses into one to provide deeper cross-cultural learning experiences to students, and in late 2020, its newly series of Virtual Express Mentoring has seen even more success.

“More than 400 students from both Vietnam and Singapore campuses engaged in group mentoring experiences with more than 80 global mentors from 12 different industries,” she said.

“We are very happy to see both students and mentors are becoming more prepared to engage in virtual career conversations with proper digital etiquette.”

news-2-get-ready-for-the-world-of-work-virtuallyRMIT Student Council organised a special event at Job Shop to celebrate Korean culture, and to introduce more fun and diverse activities in this virtual space.

The Job Shop, a learning space where the team delivers workshops and provides support to students from both Saigon South and Hanoi campuses, has seen more visits and engagement when switching to virtual mode.

“We had 2,000 visits in just July,” Ms Spiga said.

“Last week the Student Council organised a special event at Job Shop to celebrate Korean culture, and to introduce more fun and diverse activities in this virtual space.”

The well-established employability skills application Personal Edge has increased its strength even more during the pandemic.

“Since the launch in 2018, over 5,700 students have participated in practical skills workshops, panel sharing and company visits to develop their employability,” Ms Spiga said.

“When students graduate, they can publish a digital portfolio of skills obtained from what they acquired on Personal Edge to highlight their experiences to future employers.”

One Personal Edge Ambassador and Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management student Tran Quynh Phuong acknowledged the benefit of being actively involved in many activities during her time at RMIT.

"The Personal Edge skillsets that I have built throughout the years at RMIT help me prove my eligibility to future employers," Phuong said.

"I am more confident in reaching out for help or applying for jobs and internships thanks to my skills.

Phuong got an internship in a 5-star hotel in HCMC thanks to the connections she made after participating in a number of activities, including Experience Day, International Day and Personal Edge week.

news-3-get-ready-for-the-world-of-work-virtuallyThere were 33 companies and more than 350 positions offered at the Virtual Career Fair took place in early September 2021.

And one of RMIT’s signature events, the Career Fair, moved online for the first time last year amid the pandemic and received very positive feedback from both industry and students.

Ms Spiga said that before Vietnam was hit by the latest COVID-19 wave the team was already planning to run a virtual career fair or a hybrid version.

“COVID gave us the reason to be fully virtually again,” she shared about the second Virtual Career Fair which has just taken place in early September.

“There were 33 companies and more than 350 positions offered at the fair.”

“We keep exploring new ways to digitise our programs to better customise activities that will allow students to excel and be ready and competitive for the constant changing working environment,” Ms Spiga emphasised.

Story: Ha Hoang

20 September 2021

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