Ewha Mentoring Day held by Career Development Center (CDC) took place on Nov. 19 at the Ewha Campus Complex. It was held as another version of CDC’s Creative Career Fair which is a new form of exposition to help students gain personal knowledge and advice from Ewha alumni in various career fields. Unlike other universities, Ewha no longer holds career fairs, and instead offers counselling coordinated with each company’s job application schedule. Ewha Mentoring Day is an additional exposition to enhance students’ understanding of career seeking and compatibility. 
A total of 19 booths were installed, covering various fields such as marketing, HR, business, distribution, cosmetics, media & journalism, and foreign companies. There were also counsel booths for personal color and image making and the Lucete Humanities Project. The provided career fields were selected based on Ewha students’ preferred career choices. Each booth had one or two Ewha alumni or female professionals. Students could visit booths of their interest and talk with mentors who provided them with information and advice.
“The event was very helpful,” said Choi Kyung-won, an International Studies student who attended a cosmetics booth. “The mentor for the first booth I attended was very inspiring. She assured me that it is normal for people not to have a decided career path and advised me on how to find my career.”
A special lecture at the Lee San Bong Hall by the managing director of McDonald’s Korea, Melanie Joh, highlighted the event. Joh shared the story of her career as the first woman to lead McDonald’s Korea and the first person to be promoted within the Korean unit as a board member.
Even though the Ewha Mentoring Day was held on a Saturday, approximately 1,000 students participated. The long line of students who showed up well before the event showed the anticipation students had for the event. Other students who passed by joined the event spontaneously on the spot. Snacks were provided to all participants and students who came in groups were given additional goods.
“Through Ewha Mentoring Day, we hope students were able to receive realistic and helpful advice from alumni and female leaders in their quest for an ideal career,” CDC said.
As it was the first ever mentoring day, there were rooms for improvement. Although fields expected to be popular such as marketing, HR, finance, and cosmetics were given two booths to accommodate many students at once, some people were waiting too long for their turn at other stalls. Also, all the participating stalls provided counseling only in Korean, which made it difficult for international students to participate. 
“I wish that there were more mentors for each booth,” Choi said. “It took me around two and half hours just to line up. I ended up visiting only two booths out of all the booths that were available.” 
To keep an eye out for such problems, surveys were given out to students asking about their experience of the event, what they enjoyed, possible places for improvements and recommendations for the future. Later they were collected to be taken into consideration for the next Ewha Mentoring Day. With suggestions made by students and the goal of the CDC to help students in career development and employment, the prospect of Creative Career Fair Ewha Mentoring Day seems bright. 
“We plan to develop and organize it annually to allow students to gain  advice and counselling at once,” CDC said.

 

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