Career Fair attracts over 40 companies to AIT

by Kim Escobin

The AIT Conference Center on 27-28 March 2008 was once again the venue for the much anticipated AIT Career Fair, a bi-annual on-campus event organized by the Career Center that matches AIT graduates with corporate recruiters from Thailand and around the region.

Over forty companies set up booths at AIT, some of which came from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. All were eager to promote their firms as a way to attract the interest of AIT’s best and brightest and fill specific job vacancies. Over 500 young hopefuls visited the Career Fair on the first day alone.

Organizers said they hoped to top the results of the March 2007 fair at which 24% of attending students received a corporate internship offer and 11% received a formal job offer.

Many of the firms on display, such as Genesis and Mattel Thailand, are now home to several AIT alumni. Company representatives said they continue to participate at this fair because they rate AIT graduates highly for their intelligence, diligence and innovation skills. The screening of applicants and interviews started immediately at 9:00 a.m. on both days. To aide the coordination, students were encouraged to pre-register the day before the event.

First time participating companies, such as the RV Centre International and Thai Fuji Seiki Co., were impressed with abundance of prospective recruits. Officials from Bangkok Bank said they were looking forward to interviewing graduates of AIT, especially English-speaking Thai nationals, to join their prestigious company. Other companies werelooking forward to returning to AIT to join the School of Management (SOM) Job Fair which will is scheduled in the near future.

The opening day was highlighted by a special performance from the children of the AIT on-campus Community School. Donning their traditional national costumes, the primary school-aged kids entertained all guests with three songs and quickly became crowd favorites.

In a welcome address, Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean of the School of Engineering Technology (SET), gave a stirring message on how proud AIT was of all its graduates, and of how the institute has provided them with the tools to continue learning throughout life. He deemed AIT graduates to be "global citizens", eager to contribute successfully to the international workforce and society.

AIT Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA), Prof. Peter Haddawy, graciously thanked the participating companies and endorsed the students to future firms. He then stressed the importance of re-establishing closer bonds with the private sector, as it is part of AIT's core values to contribute to the economic development of the region. The Vice President also urged the AIT alumni to continue to respond to the need of society.

Theradej Litsoboom and Poplarp Soongsawang, master’s students from the School of Engineering, who represented two thirds of the team that won the prestigious Insee Lightweight Concrete Award in engineering last year, were all smiles after attending the career fair. Mr. Theradej, or ‘Tony’ as he is fondly nicknamed by friends, felt blessed not only for receiving excellent know-how on engineering and an English-language boost from his distinguished professors, but also for being provided a venue by the AIT management to jumpstart his career.

As a testament to the internationality of AIT, the Indonesian dance group then shared with the audience their award-winning performance claimed at the recent AIT Cultural Show. Mrs. Ann Lopez-Fontanilla, Head of the Student Office, rounded-up the event’s program by presenting special awards to long time company partners such as Worley Parsons, Thailand and newcomers such as ROHM1. Mrs. Lopez-Fontanilla ensured all the visitors that such Career Fair events will continue to be organized for the benefit of the AIT student community.

Twenty nine companies set-up booths on the first day, 27 March. These are:

1. Bouygues Thai Ltd. http://www.bouyguesasia.com/

2. Worley Parsons Thailand Ltd. http://www.worleyparsons.com/

3. The Siam Kubota Industry Co., Ltd. http://www.siamkubota.co.th/en/index.aspx

4. Western Digital Thailand Co., Ltd. http://www.wdc.com/en/

5. PBL Group Ltd. http://www.pbl-thailand.com/profile.html

6. The Bangchak Petroleum Public Co. Ltd. http://www.bangchak.co.th/en/index.asp

7. Mahaphant Fibre Cement Public Co. http://www.mahaphant.com/en/mnpg/index.htm

8. Genesis Engineering and Technical Service Co., Ltd. http://www.genesisthai.com/

9. Planet T & S Co., Ltd. http://www.planet.co.th/html/company.htm

10. Bangkok Bank PCL http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/main.htm

11. Technip Engineering Thailand http://www.technip.com/english/profile/p_glance.html