By: Fiza Ahmed Baweja
Following the success of previous years, Karachi Grammar School held its annual ‘Career Mentorship Event 2018’ in collaboration with the Old Grammarians’ Society on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at the College Section.
Designed for class X to final year A level students, the Career Mentorship Event 2018 aimed to provide:
- Insights and perspectives to students regarding career choices.
- Mentorships that focus on goal setting and career planning.
- Promote thinking around the changing career landscape and trends – from traditional fields to emerging options.
- Knowledge of characteristics, interests, aptitudes, and skills to be successful in different careers.
- Awareness of diversity in the professional world.
- Understanding the relationship between academic pursuits and future career options.
- Encouraging students to research careers that may interest them.
- Mentorships that focus on networking to help students expand professional connections for future internships.
To provide students with an opportunity to explore multiple career paths, thirteen career panels were presented, ranging from government service, to entrepreneurship, to technology. Panels ran parallel, with students choosing to attend the industry specific panel of their choice. Each career panel session was 50 minutes in duration, and there were two back-to-back panel discussion sessions to allow a large number of students to benefit from the panelists. Each career panel included two panelists at different stages of their career, who introduced themselves and shared their career paths, perspectives, experiences, and valuable insights with students. To kick-start the discussion, each panelist was asked to identify three things that would attract someone to their career and three things that may dissuade them from that career. The bulk of the panel discussion was then devoted to an informal question and answer session with the students along with internship guidance.
The student feedback forms showed great appreciation for the event with majority of students finding it ‘very useful’. They ranked the quality of panelists, chance for follow-up, panelists remarks and answering questions’ categories above 4.5 on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest). However, students appeared to be less satisfied with the choice of only being able to choose two panels, desiring an opportunity to hear and interact with several panelists. Their inquisitiveness and aspiration for further exposure into other fields is testament to their appreciation of the career mentorship initiative.
The KGS-OGS Career Mentorship Event brings together mentors and mentees to develop the skills, knowledge, attitudes and connections needed to transition into the real world. Students were encouraged to get work experience during the summer that compliments and gives context to future academic pursuits. Several panelists offered students internships at their respective firms. It was a great opportunity for students to network and build relationships with experts in their fields. With the gracious support of the Old Grammarian alumni network, we hope to continue providing this platform for students to connect with top experts from various domains and to work on cultivating meaningful relationships between the dedicated alumni and enthusiastic student body.
