If you need to acquire job information and to get proper career guidance and counselling, don’t hesitate to visit the Institute for Adaptable Interdisciplinary Education (IAIE). It has several centers to provide diverse programs to help students to design their future career plans and to enhance their job-related competitiveness. The IAIE also offers job recommendation, operates industry convergence programs and develops job-related curriculums. This article focused on some core programs that will provide useful information about the IAIE. For more information, you can contact the staff members of the facility on the first floor of the Library Annex.

Training Program for Enhancing Your Employability
    The IAIE established a training program called ‘Employment Ace’ in 2010 to improve students’ competitiveness in the job markets. It gives participants opportunities to be trained on employability skills during the program. Basically, it is a kind of immersion program usually for eight weeks in the summer and winter vacation, considering students’ different and busy schedules.
    It is designed exclusively for senior year students and graduated students from the previous semester, who have been preparing themselves to be competent in job recruiting markets. “Any seniors who are qualified can apply for this program and join numerous systemic courses fitted around how to select and access job applicants of each enterprise,” Jeong Na-rae, a staff member of the Center for Future Planning in the facility.
    During the upcoming winter vacation, there will be the 16th Employment Ace program and its application dates are from November 3 to 19. Divided into several groups, participants will gather and study more than three times a week, at least four hours per meeting. They will improve self-introduction essay writing skills, understand the National Career Standard system, and have mock interviews and so on. In addition, students in groups get chances to meet human resource managers from various enterprises to get some knowledge about how to prepare their job recruiting skills. Seon Seok, an alumnus who participated in this program said, “I liked this program because I met people who have the same goals as mine and we shared our information. After finishing this program, I clarified my vague career plan so I am now doing an internship in the National Health Insurance Service.”

Regular Courses for Your Future Job
    The facility operates required courses to help students learn about themselves and make plans for their future and to deliver useful information such as recruiting trends and occupational skills for various working positions. They are Career Planning and Self Understanding, Life and Job Finding, Understanding of Enterprise System and Field Education. The first course is for freshmen, and they are required to take the course before they graduate from 2017. The following two courses are for junior and senior students. Kang a-ram, a student who is taking the Career Planning and Self Understanding, said, “If we can utilize the given 10 weeks of curriculum wisely, it is way more efficient than just preparing for job recruiting alone or in a group.”
    The Field Education program is designed as a regular course which students can get credits from. Students in their junior or senior years are the main targets of this course, but freshmen and sophomores can also apply for this. “Students can get not only educational experiences but also financial support for the field practice and credits,” said Professor Cha Sang-don, a team leader of Field Education. The financial support for the field practice, however, is provided limitedly to only juniors or seniors. Through this program, students can get the chance to go through job seeking and career development experiences in a given duration while working in real working places.

Small but Useful Services
    In addition to the programs mentioned above, there are also some programs and services which may draw your interest. CNU students who have an upcoming job interview can borrow a suit for free for one week in Sangsang Otjang (closet), which is running with KT&G Sangsang Univ. An aptitude test is also provided for students who want to prepare themselves before going for real job finding processes. The IAIE provides general information and also gives you a new perspective, in specialized and personalized ways, through recruitment briefing sessions and counselling services so that you can easily find the requirements which companies ask for from their future applicants. A number of firms have their own sessions quite frequently. Further, it has programs such as Female Student Career Mentoring and Future Planning Camp. If you participate in such programs, it surely will be helpful.

Running with CNU Students
    The IAIE is doing its best to give students various opportunities, while cooperating with the University Administration and the local society, to help students develop their abilities to meet the job market. According to Moon Jae-hak, the dean of IAIE, it has been benchmarked by many organizations and universities. Also, it is providing various meaningful experiences to students to be a fertilizer of Korean society. There is good news for international students. From this year, the IAIE gives more opportunities to international students who are interested in joining the above-mentioned programs. The applicants who are able to use Korean at a level good enough to communicate with Korean people in a company. It might be a great chance for international students to know how Koreans work and learn our Korean enterprise culture and what our situation is.

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<Interview>
The Chonnam Tribune interviewed Moon Jae-hak, the dean of IAIE, and asked about their programs and their visions. – Ed.

Q. Are there any programs that IAIE is tactically weighing more?
A. Actually, there are no priorities or importance that I can number. Every single program has their original values. Now we are ready to operate other programs as they are necessary for our students. The aim of these programs is to give an assurance to those who have possibilities.

Q. How the IAIE is preparing for job-related education of the 4th Industrial Revolution?
A. There are not many people who know what the 4th Industrial Revolution really is. However, corporations and governments are making their own ways to prepare for it. CNU is pushing forward a convergence college project to approach the upcoming social shift, a combination between agriculture and technology, for example. The IAIE will get ready for this phenomenon while developing various programs to help students understand vague but potential changes.

Q. What do you want to ask students, related to the IAIE?
A. Personally, I wish our students could be more confident. What you experience throughout your university years will be crucial for the rest of your life. Realize your true potential and believe in possibilities, whether they are found or waiting to be found. Do not limit and blame yourself, ‘I am too late,’ but make that as a momentum to heighten your own values. The programs of the IAIE aim to help students to live their lives in well-organized ways. We are always open to you students who are full of willingness to achieve higher goals.
 

By Lee Seong-chae, Student Editor