Seeking career opportunities at UTAR Career Xplorer

The organising committee with the speakers

UTAR Career Xplorer 2022 was organised by the UTAR Accounting Society from 4 to 5 July 2022 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus to provide a platform for graduating students to interact with potential employers and look out for career opportunities. Throughout the two-day event, a whole host of booths, workshops and forums were attended by the students to gain knowledge about the working world and build connections for the future.

The opening ceremony of UTAR Career Xplorer 2022 took place on the first day at UTAR Multipurpose Hall. The ceremony was graced with the presence of several important figures, including, UTAR President Ir Prof Dato’ Dr Ewe Hong Tat, UTAR Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development Ir Prof Dr Goi Bok Min, Senior Manager of Business Development of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts (ACCA) Maritime Southeast Asia Ivan Tan, Associate Director of Grant Thornton Malaysia Chong Ee-Feng, Human Resources Director of Huawei Malaysia Mr Choh Yau Meng, Dean of Faculty of Accountancy and Management Dr Sia Bee Chuan, Organising Chairperson of UTAR Career Xplorer 2022 Joey Pay Jie Yi, Chairperson of the Student Representative Council (SRC) of UTAR Sungai Long Campus 2021/22 Hoong De Shan and IEM Chairperson 21/22 Chong Ke Shan.

During the ceremony, a speech was given by Prof Ewe, who thanked the students for attending the event. He said, “Career Fair such as this provides excellent networking opportunities as it serves as a platform for students to make connections with potential employers, mentors and peers. All of you should seize this chance to attain the necessary information about your chosen industry.” Ivan Tan said, “This event is important in ensuring that UTAR students become more familiar and have a clearer view of their future. Participating or organising such events can help students achieve outstanding academic results and develop excellent communication, leadership, teamwork and strategic thinking skills.” Joey Pay expressed her gratitude to her team and said, “The main objective of UTAR Career Xplorer 2022 is to assist students in obtaining job and internship opportunities, whilst preparing them to join the workforce. I would like to thank my team who has worked hard and burnt the midnight oil almost every day to prepare for this event. It would have not been possible to pull off this event without their help.” The opening ceremony ended with the presentation of tokens of appreciation and a ribbon-cutting session.

After the opening ceremony, there were booths set up by external companies, such as Huawei Malaysia, Grant Thornton Malaysia and RSM Malaysia for students to interact and get to know the companies. A forum session titled “What’s HR Expectation in the Corporate World?” was held by Ms Chong Ee-Feng, Senior Manager of Ernst & Young Advisory Services Lilian Mah and a member of the People Team (Employer Branding) at Shopee Mobile Malaysia Norfitrah binti Norizan at the Multipurpose Hall.

Students visiting the various booths set by external companies

On the second day of the event, an office tour to Huawei was conducted. The participants attended talks given by several Huawei employees who shared their working experience at the company and the layout of their offices.

UTAR Career Xplorer 2022 came to an end with a closing ceremony which was held on the second day. Dr Sia in her speech said, “I would like to thank the organising committee for successfully preparing such an important event, and ensuring it ran smoothly. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the participants who partook in the talks and activities, and finally, to all the sponsors, speakers and companies who have kindly set up their booths for the students to interact with. I hope that all the participants were able to gain additional knowledge about the working world and connect to future employers through all the activities.”

Overall, the UTAR Career Xplorer 2022 was a huge success, with many students participating and learning about their future careers.

Dr Sia (far right) with a few students