Life after graduation can be said to be scary for some students. These feelings arise due to student anxiety because there may be a lack of a desired career plan. Seeing these problems, the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UGM held a webinar titled “Alumni Sharing: Bridging to The New World.” This event was intended for students who have completed their studies and will soon be graduating in the near future.
This webinar regarding alumni sharing was held on Monday (21/02) through the Zoom Meetings platform. This event began with a speech by Gumilang Aryo Sahadewo, Ph.D. as the faculty’s Vice Dean for Research, Community Service, Cooperation, and Alumni. He stated that it is important for us as students to participate in events like this to seek as much information as possible from previous alumni. In addition, it can also help in the creation of relations that may be useful in the future.
The moderator on this occasion was Shima Dewi Mutiara Trisna, an Academic Assistant at the Department of Economics. There were three excellent speakers in this session. The first speaker was Ulayya Gempur Tirani, who was an Accounting alumnus of FEB UGM in 2014. Ulayya talked about how her life was in college and after. She explained that after graduating from college, she worked at an FMCG company, namely P&G, and after that, she continued on her studies as an M.P.A. candidate at Columbia University. She emphasized that we must always be able to adapt, no matter where we were.
The second speaker, Fitri Hidayatullah who is an alumnus of Economics FEB UGM in 2013. Unlike Ulayya, Fitri chose to become a research analyst at Bank Indonesia as his first job after graduating from college. After that, Fitri changed jobs and became an Asian Market Analyst at Avient Color & Additive Corp. Fitri also explained that students must know the type of work and company they want to choose so that they know the goals they want to achieve. This is because there are companies that have fast-paced and some are slow-paced.
Next, the last speaker was Khalisha Adelia Aziza who is an alumnus of Management FEB UGM, the year 2015. Unlike the previous speakers, Adel chose to become an entrepreneur after graduating from college in her hometown of, Kebumen. She is the Co-Founder of the Tradha Foundation and CEO of Tradha Farm. After establishing the business, she became an LPDP Awardee and an M.Sc. candidate at the Erasmus School of Economics. Adel also emphasized the importance of being an entrepreneur. These include being able to identify existing problems, having high motivation, forming relations and networking with many parties, and creating opportunities amid challenging times.
At the end of the event, several important points to be taken from the webinar were emphasized. First, communication and negotiation are important skills to have in our careers. Second, we also need to add value to the institutions or organizations we work for. Third, start with what you have, because great people were once also beginners.
Reportage: Merisa Anggraini
