High school students met with industry representatives at the Career Day

Mersin Metropolitan Municipality organized a Career Day Event for high school students. Participants provided support to students on topics such as the importance of choosing a profession, competencies expected from candidates by the business world, digitalization in the business world, entrepreneurship, and more.

In addition to the guidance and counseling services for university students under the Career Center, the center continues its work for high school students who are in the process of choosing a profession. Hosted by the Career Center and coordinated by the Entrepreneur Human Resources Association (GİDERİK), the event titled ‘Step Forward in Your Career’ was attended by students from Hacı Sabancı Anatolian High School. During the event, the Career Center Director and President of the Entrepreneur Human Resources Association (GİDERİK) Serkan Özada, Turkcell Human Resources Business Partner Elektro Group Human Resources Manager İnci Korkusuz, Mersin University (MEÜ) Department of Environmental Engineering Faculty Member and BioMAR Engineering Founder Prof. Dr. Duygu Bilgen, and Gezairi Academy General Manager Başak Yıldırımel shared their experiences to guide students in their career journeys.

Participants supported students on the importance of choosing a profession, competencies expected from candidates by the business world, digitalization in the business world, entrepreneurship, and more. The event, which progressed in the form of interactive questions and answers with students, was interactive.

“Choosing the right profession will enable them to choose the right lifestyles”

Özada, Director of the Career Center and President of GİDERİK, stated that their target audience includes job seekers, youth, students, university students, and employers. Emphasizing the importance of students among these groups, Özada said, “Because the earlier we provide career guidance and counseling services to our students, the more successful they are in their future career journeys. It is very important for young people to know themselves, their professions, learn job search channels, establish connections and networking with companies, and learn about industry changes. We are trying to reach not only university students but also high school students. Because choosing the right profession will enable them to choose the right lifestyles,” he said. Özada noted that they will continue to organize events that bring together student and industry representatives to introduce sectors.

“Guiding students is extremely important”

MEÜ Department of Environmental Engineering Faculty Member and BioMAR Engineering Founder Prof. Dr. Bilgen also emphasized the importance of guiding students. Referring to the topics she discussed, Bilgen said, “I hope we have been helpful. In addition, we provided them with information on topics such as ‘What are today’s professions? What is the place of artificial intelligence among them? How to find innovative ideas with artificial intelligence?'” Bilgen also pointed out that there was a good turnout, saying, “There were those who wanted to talk to us after the meeting. Therefore, this actually shows that we have really reached somewhere. We provided our contact information for them to reach us in the future. Perhaps they will have the opportunity to intern in our companies, or we will help them find their paths”.

“Guiding young people, being able to touch them, is very important”

Turkcell Human Resources Business Partner Elektro Group Human Resources Manager Korkusuz said, “Being with young people is wonderful. Because guiding them, touching them, or even transferring knowledge to them is very important. We want to give them everything we felt was missing in the past. I hope we have touched their hearts”.

“If even a sentence remains in their minds, it is a success for us”

Gezairi Academy General Manager Yıldırımel indicated that there are very enthusiastic and anxious young people among the youth, saying, “We tried to give them a lot in a short time here. I hope that if even a sentence remains in their minds today, it is a success for us”.

The event was informative and guiding for students

One of the participating students, Sena Nur Çarşılı, noted that they especially acquired important information about logistics and academic career fields during the event.

Elif Oral, another student, mentioned that through the event, they learned new information about informatics, logistics, and academic career fields, stating, “Even though it is not close to the department I want to choose, at least I gained information in case I choose it in the future. I also got to know the logistics field.” Oral, who aims for a medical faculty as a career goal and dreams of becoming an academician, expressed that the information provided about academic careers during the event was also helpful for her in this regard.

Expressing her interest in presentations about new technology applications, student Ece Bilgin said they learned how to improve themselves more in the field of ChatGPT or the internet. Emphasizing her desire to become an engineer in the future, Bilgin highlighted the importance of language and internet-related studies in engineering.