Curtin Career Fair 2014

First of all, happy Halloween to those who are celebrating! May your 31st be as scary as ever. Forget your halloween costumes though as this career fair doesn't even hint on halloween. On the day before the 31st, Curtin University Sarawak Campus has been organizing a career fair in their own basketball hall (mind you, UTP's career fair is called TEC which stands for Technology, Education and Career, which is much more grand than Curtin's hehe no offense). It was a very informative visit to those who came to search the best company to work with or have an intern with.

So yeah, together with my friend  and my brother to the career fair

The three of us do not have any difficulty in locating the hall but they should have improved it by putting signboards indicating where the career fair is being done (just like how UTP has been practising it). But the major problem would be finding a suitable parking though, It is quite limited (this kind of experience somehow shares coincidentally with UTP, not a good thing). Despite the inconveniences we experienced earlier, it's worthwhile as we are greeted well from the organizers of the event and there was a lucky draw at the entrance as well! The prizes were the usual pens and keychains but the lucky ones do receive an mp3 or even a usb thumb drive!

Those who attend the career fair were eager to find out what the companies have to offer

The first booth that we came to visit was a well known company named Shell. It came to no surprise that Shell has a lot to offer to selected candidates who will either going to be recruited or to those who are looking to have an intern with. Their representative who is currently doing an intern for a month now has been describing to us what Shell has to offer. The opportunities are vast and not only for the technical side but as well as the commercial side. Another representative which is a much more experienced lady further explains to us about internship requirement as well as how the importance of a women's role in the company and how Shell has been empowering women in this sense.

Our next walk was to the Halliburton booth. After having introduced ourselves to the representatives on what we are looking for as well as our technical background, the representatives explains us on what kind of positions or jobs available in Halliburton. One of the representative (who seems quite old and experienced) has been highlighting the importance of writing a good curriculum vitae (CV) and how passion in one's career is when applying for the job. He jokingly explains that he won't hire people who just gave a simple CV template and threatens us if he sees these kinds of CVs being handed to him! CV is one of the most important step before the interview so it makes sense for us to pay close attention to it, he further explains.

Another interesting booth that visited would be PETRONAS (mind you, one of the representative is quite pretty hehe). Their representatives explained to us who should we contact to if we want to arrange an internship here in Miri with PETRONAS SKO without undergoing the central's process which usually is discover PETRONAS. But the most interesting offering they had was the PRODIGY programme. It is a 2 years programme where the trainees were given hands on training on all sorts of project regarding oil and gas industry with numerous affiliated companies such as Shell, PETRONAS and Talisman to name a few. Trainees will also be provided with transport and best of all, RM 3,000 allowances with all other fees being sponsored by the affiliated companies. Is that exciting or what! But here's the catch, only 50 limited trainees will be accepted, therefore the perks are completely justified.

One of the booths being displayed at the career fair

We did take a look at other companies such as Sunway and Petra, but I found them giving the same advice of how important it is to know what you want to do and ensure that you have given all your best during the recruiting process. Now that we have armed ourselves with some important and relevant knowledge that are not taught in lectures, tutorials or even lab sessions, we still need to wait a few years before entering the work force. For those who will be entering the workforce soon, look no further as career fairs are a great start to find out about companies and their job offerings!