The University of Macau (UM) today (25 March) kicked off the Career and Internship Fair 2021. Approximately 100 companies and organisations participated in this year’s fair, providing over 2,800 job vacancies. To assist graduates in finding a job, the university has also organised 25 related events, including recruitment talks, career preparation seminars, and career exploration and training workshops. In addition, the university created a dedicated website to provide online career guidance and employment information for students.
Billy So, UM’s vice rector for student affairs, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. According to him, the university combined in-person activities with an online platform (a dedicated website) in order to provide comprehensive job-related information for students and a variety of recruitment channels for companies during the epidemic. He encouraged students to grasp every opportunity and explore their career paths.
A fourth-year student surnamed Cheung in the Faculty of Business Administration plans to search for a job in the Greater Bay Area in order to broaden her horizons, build up her network, and learn about new things. Another graduating student surnamed Gai in the same faculty was originally worried that the pandemic would negatively affect his internship opportunities. Fortunately, various industries in China resumed operation in March last year, and he was lucky enough to find two internships, at Word Jump and NetEase Interactive Entertainment, respectively, while studying remotely. ‘Finding a job straight after graduation means that I will have more opportunities and more room for trial and error, but I don't rule out the possibility of pursuing further education for a new career path in the future,’ says Gai.
According to UM’s Further Studies and Placement Survey for the 2019/2022 academic year, among those who graduated in the 2019/2020 academic year and have found employment, over 67 per cent received an offer before graduation. 80.6 per cent of the graduates in that year were in employment or further education within three months of graduation. The median monthly income is MOP 15,000, and the top five industries where the graduates found employment are education (22.6 per cent), banking and finance (15 per cent), hotel (7.8 per cent), trade/wholesale/retail (6.9 per cent), and entertainment and gaming (6.7 per cent).
The two-day Career and Internship Fair is an annual event of the university. This year, 100 companies and organisations participated in the fair, many of which are internationally renowned organisations. Together, they offered over 2,800 job vacancies in fields such as bank and finance, hotel, information and technology, retail, as well as food and beverage. Recruitment booths were available at the fair to provide one-stop service, from on-site registration and interview to consultation and matching to help students find suitable jobs.
Guests who attended the opening ceremony include Li Yongle, representative of the Department of Education and Youth Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao SAR; Wong Chio In, head of the Division of Educational Planning and Facilities of the Education and Youth Development Bureau; Chan Lai San, representative of the Labour Affairs Bureau; Paul Pang, dean of students of UM; Leong Chi Kit, director general of UM’s Students’ Union, and Frank Ding, director general of UM’s Postgraduate Association.
