Toasting to the Success of JETAA’s First Career Roundtable
On Thursday, November 7th, JETAA held its first ever career roundtable and it was received well indeed.
JETAA and guests spent the evening at the Japan Foundation first by listening to the background stories of 9 industry professionals and how they were successful in entering their chosen career paths.
The second half of the night was reserved for networking with those professionals in addition to other like-minded career focused guests over a spread of delectable cheese and wine.
Attendees were so engaged in their conversations that the event even spilled over in time, with many mentioning they wish they had more opportunities similar to the Career Roundtable. With the event turning out to be a huge success, it is most likely this new engagement will continue next year.
As the Roundtable would not be possible without our 9 industry professionals, thanks is in due order for their motivational talks and time spent with enquiring JETAA members. For all those who were unable to attend the event, here is a summary of the industry experts and words of career wisdom:
Lourdes Zelaya – Assessment Advisor
Expert in Social Services
Advice – Overall, volunteering is an excellent way to explore different areas of interest, gain additional experience, network, and potentially present your expertise.
Nathan Fenn, – Internship Coordinator and Program Officer
Expert in NGOs and Non-For-Profit
Advice – Carry out a lot of research on organizations that you’d like to work for and drop by their offices to get a feel for the culture; if it’s an unhappy place, you likely won’t be happy working there.
Simon Leclerc and Patrick Huang – CELTA Course Assessors
Experts in Education
Advice – To become a successful teacher, it is essential to have the proper hands-on training. This should help teachers not only build the best foundation of practices, but also delineate a clear pedagogical identity and beliefs.
Jeff Minthorn – Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Verge Magazine
Expert in Communications and Media
Advice – One skill set you’ll absolutely need to hone is project management and any activity you can undertake that develops and tests those skills will be an enormous asset.
Vincent Ng – Management Consultant, Health IT Strategist, and Clinical Pharmacist
Expert in Healthcare
Advice – Healthcare is in desperate need for change and innovation, and requires smart people from many different backgrounds to solve its problems – for example, business, IT, engineering, design, data analysis. So, don’t close the door for yourself if you’re not in a “traditional” healthcare path.
Adam Waxman – Associate Publisher of DINE Magazine, Publisher of DINE Travels
Expert in Communications and Media
Advice – Use all the resources in your arsenal that distinguish you and make your voice unique: all your life experiences and all your interests; your imagination; your energy and your passion.
Sandy Gibson – Elementary School Core French Teacher
Expert in Education
Advice – Be versatile and flexible. Getting qualified to teach subjects that are in demand such as French, Math, or Music is important as is having the willingness to teach it even though you may not be 100% confident in your abilities.
Alex Meers – Director, Me to We Leadership
Expert at NGOs and Non-for-Profits
