The School of Business, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) has successfully organized and conducted “Internship Workshops” for the students studying in their last semester of undergraduate programme. The internship workshops focused on the capacity development and job placement of students. The internship workshops included the following topics: resume writing, interview tips, basic interview skills, self-assessment, exploring organizations, career guidance and also mock interviews. The first workshop was held on 7th December, 2019 and it was facilitated by Adjunct Faculty and Internship Coordinator, School of Business, Zubayer Zakir Khan who shared CV writing methods and tips with the students. The workshop was an hour long session which focused on CV writing, cover letter writing, interview tips and skills.
The 2nd workshop was held on 24th December, 2019. The workshop was jointly conducted by Zubayer Zakir Khan and Zarin Zeba Khan (Gender Equality Advisor, FSSP, Global Affairs Canada, High Commission of Canada) who discussed various topics like – career guidance, development and private sector, the ways to get into big multinationals.
The 3rd Workshop, “Mock Interviews” was held on 15th January, 2020 where 9 different companies participated. Human Resource personnel from these organizations conducted the mock interviews. The participating organizations were: BRAC, Regent Group, Magnito Digital, Bikroy, Clicxo, Forethought PR (A Concern of Asiatic), Laserwars, Level Four AdNetworks and Dhaka Tribune.
Honorable Dean, School of Business, Dr. Prof. Mohd. Aminul Karim also visited the mock interview sessions and had discussions with the participating companies. The session of Internship Interviews was opened with a speech from Adjunct Faculty and Internship Coordinator Zubayer Zakir Khan. The 9 participating companies also stepped on to the stage to talk about their companies, what skills they are looking for, the present job market, youth employment trends, etc. The seminar was followed by 3 hour long mock interview sessions. In total, the session was 4 hours long. After the interviews, all HR professionals also provided feedback to students.
These 3 workshops contributed tremendously to the capacity development of students and it gave them additional confidence before stepping into the workplace. IUB will take more initiatives like this in the future and will keep working with students to develop their capacity in various topics.