Zero To Career Hero

Are you ready for some career fair madness? Because University of Moratuwa just pulled off the 27th chapter of its official career fair, "Are You Ready? 2023" organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa in collaboration with the Career Guidance Unit, after two long years of virtual career fairs. And let me tell you, it was a wild ride.

The fair had six sub-projects which are interconnected, from 14th January 2023 to 14th March 2023. There was "Heads up", where physical workshops were held to teach students how to create a proper CV and how to face an interview properly. Then there was "The Image", which focused on personal branding and entrepreneurship, and featured appearances by the one and only Mr. Bathiya Jayakody and the famous entrepreneur Chanux Bro.

The "Resume Centre" was a place where over 600 final-year undergrads submitted their CVs to be scrutinised by corporate HR folks, who gave feedback to respective undergraduates in a physical context on how to make them better prior to the career fair. That's right, it was a major milestone of the project series where final-year undergraduates directly benefited from focusing on their upcoming interview procedures.

"Global Pathways" was all about virtual workshops on foreign recruitment, internships, scholarships, and non-IT to IT job transitions. Because let's face it, who doesn't want to travel the world to work in new job and economic trends?

The "Career Insights Series" was a virtual session series where partnered companies revealed their recruitment opportunities and company branding. Think of it as a corporate fashion show, but instead of models, you have job opportunities strutting down the runway.

And finally, the pièce de résistance, the "Flagship Fair". This was where the real magic happened, where interviews were conducted between final-year students and corporate sector companies. It was a circus of nerves, handshakes, and sweaty palms. But hey, our own Ayyala and Akkala got opportunities to face real & mock interviews and even on-time recruitment at their comfort zones, instead of visiting companies for interviews and applying for company interviews through complex, lengthy procedures.

Now, you might think that planning and executing such a mammoth event would be a cakewalk. But oh no, my friends, it was not. With a country in economic crisis and many companies freezing their recruitments, getting companies on board for the career fair was a huge challenge. And let's not forget about the logistics cost and finance handling, which were major headaches.

In addition, the lack of experienced people inside the university in planning and executing such a physical career fair was another predominant challenge. Luckily we were able to manage it with the guidance we received from Dr. Ranga Rodrigo, Rtr. Bimsara Somarathna, Rtr. Manul Thenuka, Rtr. Samila Imbulana and past presidents as well as Ex-co members from the RI year 2021-22 whenever we needed. Manul Aiya and Bimsara Aiya were literally like the “Unofficial Knowledge Partners” throughout the project. Because of them, I and my co-chair Yasiru did not hesitate to take any challenge or risk because we knew they had our backs. Our Madam President and Ex-co members have also given their support and guidance whenever we needed it without any hesitation. Likewise, there were plenty of challenges and problems we had to face day by day.

But through it all, my Board of Directors and the General Members a.k.a. the "team of volunteers” have given their fullest effort and support like the Avengers of career fairs. We overcame challenges, shared laughs and stories, and spent countless hours, especially in the RUR room, which was basically our hangout spot for two months.

And in the end, it was all worth it. We generated a huge impact with the participation of 52 corporate companies, 800+ final-year undergrads, and 2400+ interviews conducted with the support of 150+ volunteers from level 01 and level 02. It’s a lifetime experience and a memory not only chairing, planning, and executing such an event series as the official career fair of the university but also being glad and happy to work with our inspired general members, and at the end of the day happy to see how much they have improved themselves through all these procedures.

A huge thanks go to all the parties who have given their guidance and support throughout the project!

So there you have it, folks. The story of "Are You Ready? 2023", is a career fair like no other. It was a roller-coaster of emotions, a triumph of the human spirit, and a reminder that no matter what challenges we face, we can overcome them with a little bit of humour and a lot of hard work as a team. Until next time, keep your spirits high and keep up the good work, because you never know when the next career fair circus will come to town.