Alumni and Accounting Student Club Networking Session: Experience and Knowledge Sharing
In every educational institution, strengthening and maintaining the bond between the students and alumni are always necessary, especially because the students can obtain many insights from the former students. Therefore, International Accounting and Finance (IAF) program from BINUS INTERNATIONAL held the Alumni & Accounting Student Club (ASC) Networking Session on Thursday, December 8th, 2016.
In the event that was held at Students Lounge, Basement 2, BINUS JWC Campus, IAF invited five alumni as guest speakers – Ryan Jane (graduation 2013, Assistant CFO at Nirvana Development, President of the International Accounting and Finance Program Alumni Association), Wilson Salim (graduation 2015, Assistant Consumer & Market Insight Manager at PT Unilever Indonesia, Vice President of the International Accounting and Finance Program Alumni Association), Felita (graduation 2014, Specialist Development Program at HSBC, Secretary of the International Accounting and Finance Program Alumni Association), Melisa Irene (graduation 2015, Associate at East Ventures, Member of the International Accounting and Finance Program Alumni Association), and Kevin Wijaya (graduation 2014, Finance Analyst at General Electric).
In this Networking Session, the five guest speakers shared their experiences, as well as piece of advices in working and preparing for the professional world. Hence, the students, especially the ones who will face their final year, could get lessons and insight about how to face the professional world, learn new things and tasks, face the co-workers and superiors, and make decision for the first career.
Ryan Jane, who previously worked as an auditor at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said that in professional world, the consequences of failure are bigger and individuals are responsible for their own failure. “Therefore, make mistakes as much as you can in the class, because the lecturers will continuously guide you,” he said.
Another speaker, Wilson Salim, said that the most common obstacle is the competency that isn’t compatible with job description. To deal with that obstacle, everyone needs to pick his or her own battle, gain experiences outside the classroom, while still focuses on the study.
Wilson also gave some advices about how to gain recognition. “Strengthen your soft skills, and if you are lacking skills in your job, keep learning hard until you make it,” he explained.
Melisa Irene, who is currently working in investment field, had similar opinion with Wilson. She also admitted that accounting is a necessary skill in every working field.
“You have to know what you are good at, and accounting will complement that,” she explained.
Felita, the Secretary of the International Accounting and Finance Program Alumni Association, explained that the students need to take the study seriously. That’s because, according to her, there is one important benefit of International Accounting and Finance program for her – the structure of thinking.
“The structure of the way you are thinking will define who you are, and it will be helpful in professional world,” she said.
The last speakers, Kevin Wijaya also focused on the importance of soft skills. He explained that in building soft skills, the students need to join a lot of organizational activities. According to Kevin, joining those activities will teach them about how to become more proactive, leadership, deal with people, and many more.
(ERON)
