On Saturday (February 22), the curtains were brought down on Career Expo 2020 organised by Economics Career Alliance (ECA). The three-day event started on February 20.
Launched by ECA-- a club at the economics department of University of Dhaka -- the event aimed to reduce the communication gaps between the students and their future employers. This event created a precedence of being one of the first of its kind in the country, with activities and competitions ranging from public speaking, poster making, quiz and case competitions and concluding with a day-long job fair on the final day of the event.
On the second day of the event, the students tackled a case competition in teams of three to four people, where they brainstormed up with policy solutions to revive the jute industry within a timeframe of two years. Each team presented their solutions in front of a panel of judges and the top ten teams qualified to the final round of the competition.
A daylong display of posters and photographs went on alongside the case competition. The poster making competition was based on the theme of socio-economic ideas, on the topics of green economy, era of social businesses and reducing inequality. The students also competed in a quiz competition in teams of three to four. The teams were tested on their knowledge about economics, business and the financial sector.
The key highlight of the final day of the event was the day long job fair held at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka. The job fair had stalls of renowned institutions and firms such as SANEM, BDjobs, BYLC and Polar. The students were given the opportunity to simultaneously approach these top companies and submit their resumes.
The final day of the event commenced with a panel discussion on 'Career in Research: How to Proceed?' moderated by Dr Selim Raihan, CEO of SANEM, with Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Atonu Rabbani and Mahtab Uddin as panellists. The session began with a trigger presentation by Zubayer Ahmed, research associate at SANEM, outlining the basics of conducting research. He stressed the importance of learning technological skills, such as STATA, Excel and data analysis, alongside acquiring academic knowledge of their respective disciplines. Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha remarked, "Back when we were students, neither were we were as keen towards being involved in research nor did we know how one could get involved in conducting research. This scenario has changed in recent times."
The second panel discussion on creating opportunities in the job sector, moderated by Rubaiya Morshed, assistant professor at the economics department, Dhaka University. Farzeen Ferdous Alam, chairman at OGGRO Dairy Ventures and Sazzad Hossain Mukit, CEO at Career Key were the other panellists, all of whom shared their insights on the current job sector.
Alongside these panel discussions, the final round of the case competition was held, where the top ten teams competed against each other, trying to come up with policy suggestions towards diversifying jute products in order to increase their inclusivity in the country's export basket.
The event concluded through the award giving ceremony of the four competitions: public speech, poster making, quiz and case competition.
The writer is a sophomore student at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka. She can be reached at
ntasnim335@gmail.com