2nd IMC Networking Event – a global gathering

The second IMC Networking Event took place on March 13th 2018 on the campus. Like the first one held in spring, the objective of the networking event is to provide a platform for Graduate School of International Management (GSIM) students to learn more about each other from a professional perspective. Each one of the GSIM students has valuable experience that they can share about their company, industry, and country from which they come. Such diversity is what makes IUJ unique, and International Management Council (IMC) wants to ensure that GSIM students can capitalize on the rich experience that our student body possesses. In addition, GSIM alumni also participated as a guest speaker. Similarly to the current students in IUJ, the alumni have rich experience from all over the world. They shared their knowledge of working and job hunting in Japan.

The networking event is primarily for the students, hosted by the students. Diarietou Gueye and Rose Ottowo, second-year students, shared their expectation, challenges, and take-away from their internship experience in Japanese companies over the summer break. They talked about the importance of searching for a company that can be a good fit for the student while looking for an internship as well as the importance of making a good impression in the environment that will host them considering the cultural differences. The talks given by the senior students inspired the first-year students to consider future internship opportunities.

In addition, Andy Laver, an alumnus, graduating GSIM in 2004 gave a talk on essential knowledge needed for job hunting in Japan. This was from the perspective of an IUJ alumnus who knows the strength of IUJ students and a professional head hunter who knows the job market in Japan. With his unique working experience in Indonesia and Japan, Andy talked about the practical methods that optimize online profiles for job hunting with efficient self-assessment. He emphasized that IUJ students should not discount their diverse experience on the IUJ campus.

The main networking session started with the opening remarks from GSIM Dean Wenkai Li. The 61 participants from both schools, GSIM and Graduate School of International Relationship (GSIR), shared their own background and expertise with one another. Some of the students who have roughly more than five-years working experience participated as “anchors”, and led the discussions.
Given much positive feedback from the participants in the event, IMC will host yet another networking event on 13th May 2018, dovetailing on the excitement brought on by IUJ’s Open Day. We, IMC, believe that the networking event will be a valuable platform where current students and alumni interconnect over the world.

The article of the first IMC Networking Event is available at
https://www.iuj.ac.jp/20170530/

The Networking Event Team of IMC, Mariam, Zoubeir, Kuma, and Aki.