The Opening of the First IGC Career Fair

The front view of Mason Korea’s Career Development Center

On Saturday, September 28th, all four IGC universities—George Mason University Korea, State University of New York, University of Utah, and Ghent University hosted the first-ever IGC Career Fair in collaboration with the Korea JoongAng Daily. On the IGC Campus, the event had significant meaning since it is the first time that all four universities collaborated in career-related fair since 2012 when the IGC incorporated Songdo Global University Foundation.

The idea of holding the career fair was suggested by Mason Korea’s Career Development Center (CDC) in 2018. However, instead of limiting the event within GMUK, CDC shared the idea with the other three universities so that all IGC students can experience the job market and seize the internship opportunities. From preparing eco-friendly souvenirs to inviting the eighteen businesses, GMUK CDC took the leading role in planning and organizing the event.

In selecting the eighteen businesses in social science and engineering fields, the career fair incisively targeted the characteristics of four IGC universities. The eighteen different companies are divided into four categories—private companies, international organizations, graduate school, and media. Among the businesses are the Samsung Multicampus, United Nations Health Organization, Korea University Graduate School of International Studies, and Korea JoongAng Daily.

Each business received a booth where students could visit freely and converse with the representative present about prospective internship positions and career counseling. Samsung Multicampus opened a mock interview session for interested students. GMUK professors volunteered to open a resume clinic on how to properly format resumes for job applications. Dr. HongYoon Kim, a data scientist from Samsung Electronics and Mr. Anthony Spaeth, a chief editor of the Korea JoongAng Daily also gave a speech about “How to thrive in different work settings” and the method of writing good English resume.

According to the GMUK CDC director Sangyong Lee, many prominent companies couldn’t attend the fair since September is the recruitment period. Therefore, to maximize the student’s internship opportunity, the next IGC Career Fair will be held in the 2020 Spring semester and it will be an official annual event.

Written by Jieon Kum | Staff Writer