Leadership Inspirational Seminar

AIESEC Prilep hosted its Career Fair on April 2 and its Leadership Inspirational Seminar (LIS) on April 3 & 4.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this project was funded by the Small Project Assistance grant through the Peace Corps, and it would not have been possible without it.  The idea for this project was created by our executive board, and the lofty goal of the project was to help reduce the unemployment rate in Macedonia by bringing together students and representatives of companies to create a dialogue on what skills were in demand.  Of course, one career fair and seminar is not going to fix this national problem, but the point of this project was to get students acclimated to the idea of networking with representatives from companies and preparing for their careers before graduating from university.

Like all of our local projects, LIS was organized with an Organizational Committee (OC), through which members are responsible for implementing all of the external relations, marketing, and logistical coordination of the event.  We had a great team of members who contacted companies to attend the career fair, found facilitators to present on soft skills and themes of leadership at the seminar, and recruited students to attend both the fair and the seminar.  Of course, applying for a grant through Peace Corps made me invested in this project’s success, but having two of my team members from Outgoing Exchange as members of the OC further built on that investment.

Throughout the whole project, our biggest fear was whether or not we would have enough companies present at the career fair.  Career fairs are a somewhat foreign concept in Macedonia, especially since the unemployment rate is so high, or since employment is often found through political or relationship connections.  Many of the companies that were most active in the Prilep area (including the banks) were not hiring students, and it was up to our OC team to convince the companies that their presence at the fair would be an educational service to the students who were attending it.

Overall, the career fair was a surprising success, which can be further built on over the next years.  Over 10 companies attended (including the largest company in Prilep and two banks), and participation was high among the youth in Prilep.  However, on the day of the career fair, an educational seminar was simultaneously being hosted, drawing many of the professors who thus cancelled classes.  Therefore, many students were not at the university that day, and a few of the companies complained that there were not enough students at the fair.  However, many high schools brought their students to see the event, and our overall attendance at the event may have exceeded 300 students over its three-hour duration.

I was also nervous for the fair because two staff members from the Peace Corps office, including the country director, visited the career fair.  Overall they seemed to really enjoy it, and the director succeeded in inspiring the AIESEC members in their involvement in AIESEC and their personal development.  The other staff member even mentioned that, after having a very tough week, attending our fair had really made her happy and changed the course of her week.

Our OC team and PC

A seminar similar to Career Directions, but more directed to university students, was held on the following two days.  Our facilitators were largely drawn from AIESEC Prilep alumni, including one currently working in Prilep at a regional development organization, and another working at Go Green in Skopje.  We also had a manger of a hotel from Struga and the Macedonian version of Jay Leno, who was probably a big draw for a lot of students for this seminar.  According to the evaluations, the sessions enjoyed good reception from the student participants, and LIS was just as successful as Career Directions, albeit with an audience that is much more difficult to attract.

If helping to manage the career fair wasn't causing me enough stress, I had agreed to host a session in Macedonian to promote gaining experience and joining the outgoing exchange programs through AIESEC.  At first I was determined to deliver the session by memorizing many of the points in Macedonian, but I realized that it even took me about a week to remember and master an hour-long information session when I worked for admissions.  So, one of the members on the executive board translated the speech for me, and I practiced it many times in order to deliver it smoothly for its twenty-minute duration.

Getting ready for my speech

What I treasure most about LIS is that many of our members, especially those who were most involved, were inspired to increase their involvement in AIESEC.  Many have since decided to attend our national conference, MILDS, which will occur in the middle of April.  This project was important because it challenged AIESEC Prilep to upscale its projects, increased out visibility among the students, and further invested our members into the operations of the LC.  It also set a new watermark on the progress that our LC has achieved in less than a year, and I hope its success will only continue to rise during the duration of my time here and beyond.