On the 22nd November together with UCAS, Wageningen Alumni office, Starthub Wageningen, CASSW and ISA, S&I hosted a career preparation event. Three international alumni were invited to share their experiences about how to find a dream job in the Netherlands after study in Wageningen. Wageningen Alumni office and StartHub Wageningen both gave a useful pitch in the event.
Abhiroop Anja Annayavari from India gained a Master's degree in Food Technology at Wageningen and now works in Lamb Weston/Meijer as Product and Process manager. Anja shared his interesting experience finding jobs here in the Netherlands and recommends international students to learn the Dutch language, he felt easier to integrate into the society which helped him in his working place as well.
Abidemi Olatunbosun from Nigeria did his master in Environmental sciences here in Wageningen and works now in Amsterdam for Recoll Europe B.V.The company facilitated the collection of empty cartridges and toners in Europe to contribute to a better environment.
Abidemi has been in the Netherlands for almost 10 years. He highly agreed with Anja that learning the Dutch language is very important. He was jealous that at Wageningen University, we now have a chance to learn Dutch free (Check it out!) and practice with classmates. Also, he encouraged international students to do more volunteering works to better integrate into Dutch society. Because the international students' roots are not here in the Netherlands, to develop your network here is essential if you want to work here afterword.
Lingtong Gai came from China. She studied Climate Study for her MSc in 2010 and then obtained her Ph.D. degree in Soil Physics and Land Management Group. Since the beginning of the year, she started working in Wageningen Academy as a program manager, at the same time, she also started her career in Corporate Human Resources as a project leader internationalization in WUR. Lingtong shared how did she find out what's her dream job by proactively communicating with people.
Timon from StartHub shared with the attendees what is the entrepreneurship spirit and introduced the help from the university when students have brilliant ideas and want to implement it into reality, such as startup student loans and opportunities of having meetings with external professional teams.
StartHub website: http://www.starthubwageningen.nl/
Delis from the Wageningen Alumni office, in the end, introduced the function of the alumni network. Wageningen University has its alumni all over the world and the power of the alumni network should not be underestimated. in the 100 year celebration of WUR, alumni attended multiple activities and WUR is establishing more office outside of the Netherlands as well. Through the alumni network, many students found their dream jobs.
Wageningen Alumni office website: https://www.wur.nl/en/Alumni.htm
The event ended with a cheerful drink session. Attendees were able to have one on one or group conversations with all the hosts and the alumni during the drink. Hereby we summarized some take-home messages, even you didn't get the chance to participate, we still hope these messages can help you in the future:
1. Take your chance to learn Dutch when at the university.
2. Join organizations you are interested in! Try to work with different people and build up your network.
Don’t know where to start with? Perhaps try to be a Board member of any organizations (Student Council, student organizations, GAN organizations). Or join Volunteer organizations (UNICEF, AIESEC), WUR program committee...
3. Keep entrepreneurship spirit and don’t be afraid to try!
4. Join the Wageningen alumni network after you graduate.
With the supports from the Alumni office and the Startup, as the first trial, the event was successful. The aim of the event is to encourage international students to find jobs in the Netherlands and we also hope that Dutch students and European students can share a different view with all the students who are willing to stay in the Netherlands. We hope we can further improve this event and benefit more students in the future.
If you are interested in this event, or if you'd like to share your thoughts and experiences, feel free to comment below! Or contact us via email: s.i@wur.nl or drop by the student council office to have a cup of coffee with us.