At January 24th, 2016 twelve students of B.A.Mission Studies and International Diakonia (MID) used the offer of FIT to visit the career fair "Professional activity in international Organsations and European Institutions", organized by Department of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, and to check training and career opportunities. They returned to Hermannsburg with lots of interesting impressions and ideas:
Ifeoma Chikogu:
At the exhibition were representatives of both national and international corporations e.g UNICEF, UNDP, ECA, WIPO etc. What I found most interesting about the exhibition was that most of the corporations are related to my course of study. It also gave an opportunity to know more about most of these organisations. In addition I got insight into ways I can do my internship with some of the corporations. There are lectures and seminars conducted along with the exhibition too.
Nils Singer:
Auf der Messe präsentierten sich sämtliche namhaften internationalen Organisationen, wie zum Beispiel die Vereinten Nationen mit einigen ihrer Unterorganisationen oder Vertreter der europäischen Institutionen, wie Europaparlament und Rat. Interessant war für mich vor allem zu hören, welche Voraussetzungen und Anforderungen diese Arbeitgeber stellen und welche Spezialisten gesucht werden. … Grundsätzlich konnte man erkennen, dass der Bedarf und die Nachfrage nach gut ausgebildeten Arbeitskräften in internationalen Organisationen groß ist. Jedoch wurde meistens eine langjährige Arbeitserfahrung vorausgesetzt. Informationen zu Praktikamöglichkeiten oder sogar Bachelor oder Masterarbeit waren sehr hilfreich und haben mir in gewisser Weise auch andere Ideen oder Möglichkeiten gezeigt, an die ich vorher noch gar nicht gedacht hatte.
Auch war es deutlich zu hören, dass die Nachfrage nach Menschen mit Fremdsprachenkenntnissen und interkulturellen Erfahrungen hoch ist. Hier denke ich, dass wir durch unser Studium an der Fachhochschule für Interkulturelle Theologie (FIT) eine gute Vorbereitung für den zukünftigen Arbeitsmarkt bekommen.
Tunji Awodola:
The carreer exhibition involved many national and international organisations. Also there are many seminars held at different times by these organisations. What I loved most about these seminars was the opportunity to interact directly with representatives of these organisations in order to have first hand information about their activities and to have other information that are not readily available on their website.
Johanna Barth:
Das Programm auf der Messe war sehr vielfältig. Viele große UN- Organisationen waren vertreten. Zu Beginn war ich etwas irritiert. Es waren viele Banken mit Ständen vertreten. Natürlich fungieren Banken auch auf internationaler Ebene, für mich eine völlig neue Feststellung, die ich kennen lernen durfte. Ich persönlich fand den Bereich der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit besonders interessant. Es waren wichtige Organisationen wie UNICEF und UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) vertreten. Die Stände waren sehr interessant und die Ansprechpartner sehr kompetent, sodass man gut Kontakte knüpfen konnte, auch wenn die Messe natürlich sehr voll war und gar nicht so viel Zeit blieb um sich alles lange anzuschauen.
Auch wenn der Berufseinstieg für mich nicht direkt in nächster Zeit ansteht, war es sehr interessant, die verschiedenen großen Organisationen kennen zu lernen, einen Überblick zu bekommen und auch schon Kontakte für Praktika zu knüpfen.
Lisa Ndaba-Oborski:Keep calm and keep on Networking – A day, at the Carrier fare in Berlin:
Organizations like the United Nations, the European Parliament, the World Bank, The African Development Bank, and many more where all present, and who wouldn’t want to work for “them”. … The competition is though and the requirements are even tougher. We wondered, is it really impossible, for ordinary students like us, to work for “them”? So, we decided to participate in the talk on how to persue a carrier at the UN. … During the presentation we learned about the difficult, yet not impossible, entry into the U.N. System. We got told, one needs to practice patience. Patience, flexibility, confidence, courage, degrees, competence, work experience in related field, language skills, and yes, finally even a little bit of luck. Thus, we learned it is always very important, at what ever stage in life one happens to find themselves in, to actively engage in networking! “Vernetzen Sie sich” (participate in networking) seemed to be the key ingredient for me, of an even longer (U.N) recipe.
Maiju Bach:
I visited at least shortly every booth to see what kind of organisation were represented. For many places one criteria was to have master´s degree and at least knowledge of one more international language besides English and German. What I got out of it was that it is good to be engaging already early with areas of interest and try things out through different internships which I fully agree. Also it is good to set up long time goals that help to know which way to take and what to pursue.
The career exhibition in Berlin was a good chance to get to know different organisations that offer working/traininig opportunities. It made me think a bit about the future after studies and which kind of field I could imagine myself working.
Rebekka Elmerich:
Ich konnte einige neue Organisationen kennenlernen und Gespräche mit den verschiedenen Vertretern führen. Durch Besuche bei Podiumsdiskussionen bekam man Einblicke in die harte Wirklichkeit der „idealistischen Organisationen“. Ein Großteil der Beschäftigten sind Juristen oder Politikwissenschaftler; zwischen den Organisationen gibt es einen großen Wettbewerb; …. für die meisten Organisationen braucht man einen Masterabschluss und zusätzlich am besten noch einige Jahre Berufserfahrung. Die Messe bot eine gute Chance, sich nach passenden Praktikumsmöglichkeiten umzuschauen.
Timi Akemi:
The Career fair "Employment in international organizations and European institutions “ was an eye opener for me to a wide range of opportunities that are available to people of EU and non EU students, graduates and professionals in Germany. I attended a seminar at the platform of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization group (UNESCO). Everyone who is educated and well experienced can work in UNESCO. Also there are opportunities for volunteers and internship seekers as well.
Guoxia Lu:
More than 40 international organizations and European institutions were available for personal discussions at booths and presented testimonials from employees who used to work for them. I wanted to find out which organizations seek graduates of my field of study. What kind of international activity is possible for me? How can I get prepared best for it? …
There was one thing that was really surprising to me: On the IO-career fair the students, graduates and professionals shared their experience on training and career opportunities, job descriptions and the everyday work in international organizations. This is very different from China. There, in most cases, the recruiter has to ask about the consultant's qualifications, experiences and abilities.
Augustine Oludayo Samuel:
The Europe career fair in Berlin was really a fair meant for the present and future career development. …. It was indeed a rare privilege to have various international organizations (UNV, UNICEF, ICRC, AFB etc) under the same roof displaying their profiles and opportunities for internship and career developments for all.
I personally discovered that there are countless opportunities and possibilities to be involved and to build a career in all these international organizations. We had various conferences with all the international organizations present. And I particularly took interest in the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).