The two-day Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) Career Day 2021 officially opened yesterday with more than 2,000 internship or job offerings in various areas, said university vice president Kwong Ying Wa at the event’s opening ceremony.
According to Kwong, this year the university will produce over 2,000 graduating bachelors-degree students and about 1,600 post-graduate students. As such, the university has invited over 80 entities from both the public and private sectors to participate in the job fair.
Jobs offered at the fair, as Kwong introduced, come from a range of industries, from tourism, entertainment, realty and finance, to marketing, construction, education and media.
During his welcome speech, the vice president stressed that the university is concerned with students’ employment prospects. It has been working to explore new career channels and options for its students. It is not only supporting students in employment, but also with internships and entrepreneurship.
However, 2020 was a special year, he said. “The global economic conditions have made it difficult for graduating students to approach internship, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.”
That said, the career fair was also affected by the situation. Kwong disclosed that the scale of the fair as well as the number of participating entities was not comparable to previous years. But he stressed that the university will strike a balance between local and Greater Bay Area job openings.
IT becomes popular career choice
Information technology has become more popular among job seeking graduates or prospective graduates, especially those from the MUST, Cindy Miu, Operations director of a participating IT company said.
When questioned if it is difficult to find IT candidates, Miu said it is not, although this may have been the case five to 10 years ago. The pandemic last year has grounded many people but created opportunities for IT to leap, she said.
In recent years, Miu recalled, more students have shown interest in getting a job in the IT industry. Meanwhile, when conditions eased slightly in Macau, Miu disclosed that the company is eyeing new projects which generates a need for new employees. She stressed that the company will prioritize employing local residents.
As for the salary, she pointed out that before the pandemic, graduates tended to ask for the “market price.” She hinted that fresh or prospective graduates would be likely to accept a lower salary.
The company will make job offers depending on if the candidate has graduated from a related discipline and if their talent meets market salary levels.
A prospective graduate, surnamed Lai, is confident in the development of newer industries, such as new media and the cultural industry, as they have proven its attractiveness in Macau even under the pandemic. This is why she was in the search of a job in those areas at the fair.
Another university student, surnamed Lao, was searching for internship opportunities with tourism entities. She said she was open to mainland offerings as well.
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