Career fair highlights opportunities at Japanese companies
Career fair highlights opportunities at Japanese companies
Every year, around six to seven thousand students in various academic disciplines graduate from the National University of Laos and then start the search for the job which will launch their career.
Many students have aspirations to work with the government while a large number are also seeking employment with top companies operating in the private sector. Among the top notch companies operating in Laos are a number of Japanese firms with investments in the country.
With support from Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the National University of Laos (NUOL) worked in cooperation with the Laos-Japan Human Resource Development Institute (LJI) to organize a careers fair yesterday.
The fair aims to make new graduates aware of the opportunities that are available at Lao and Japanese companies, targeting students from universities, colleges and vocational schools.
Through such an exercise, students are made aware of the potential career opportunities open to them at Lao and Japanese companies whilst the companies are also able to select new recruits from a bigger pool of talent.
The employers and company personnel were joined by representatives from JICA, NUOL, the Lao Japan Institute and the Ministry of Education and Sports at the event.
All up there were more than 20 booths on exhibition at the event, providing information to prospective employees and new recruits.
Students had the opportunity to ask questions about potential roles with different companies, what their duties would be and what promotional opportunities would be available to them if they performed well in their jobs.
Speaking at the event, the NUOL's Vice Present, Prof. Dr Somsy Gnorphanxay valued the cooperation between JICA and NUOL through the LJI in developing human resources towards socio-economic development in Laos and also regional integration.
He added that the fair would also serve to promote Japanese investment in Laos.
“We, the top management of the NUOL have been well aware of increasing flows of Japanese investment into Laos in recent years, so we have become enthusiastic in promoting the Lao-Japan Institute as a platform for information exchanges between Japanese companies in Laos and Lao students who will soon become job seekers upon their graduation,” Dr Somsy said.
“The very core purpose of this career opportunity fair is to promote interest matching among Japanese companies in Laos and students of NUOL and other educational institutes around Vientiane,” he explained.
At a national level, events such as this will also serve to strengthen ties between Laos and Japan, Dr Somsy added.
Over the last few years, Japanese investment in Laos has continued to increase and the numbers of Japanese people interested in visiting the country is growing all the time, said Japanese Ambassador to Laos, Mr Hiroyuki Kishino.
Most of the Japanese investments are focused on land and natural resource developments such as organic agriculture promotion, herb plantations, hydropower and coal development as well as the manufacturing of electronic equipment, spare parts and garments.
Currently around 125 Japanese companies are operating in Laos and he expects that this number will continue to grow in the years ahead.
The Lao-Japan Institute organises various programmes and activities including a master's degree programme in business administration, management training and consultation, Japanese language training and various exchange progarmmes.
