HSBC spearheads first Marcom Career Guidance Fair 2008

HSBC together with The International Advertising Association (IAA) and The Rotary Club of Colombo Reconnections held the first ever Marketing and Communications Career Guidance Fair 2008, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (B.M.I.C.H).

The recently concluded fair was targeted at both Ordinary and Advanced Level students across the country.

President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) Imal Fonseka expressed his views by saying, "The mismatch between the aspirations of the unemployed youth and the expectations of the employees is a cause for concern. The IAA identified this as a critical area of focus not only in securing the industry bodies' future employees, but also as a responsible social initiative.

We are grateful to HSBC for coming forward to support us in this noble venture". The career guidance fair was organised with the aim of nurturing young talent and providing students with a choice of career paths in the fields of Marketing, Advertising and Media. As such special seminars were conducted by members of the IAA who represented leading multinational organisations and many others in Sri Lanka.

President of The Rotary Club of Colombo Reconnections, Rohantha Athukorala, said. "The Rotary Club of Reconnections has aligned the year's work programme to be in line with the National agenda, so that we contribute to providing a solution to the key issues of the country.

The first Marcom Careers Fair was one such project where we highlighted the employment opportunities in this 20 billion rupee industry annually.

I thank HSBC for partnering this project in Sri Lanka, and I hope we can make this an annual event in the future"

A participant at the fair, a University student from Sri Jayewardenepura Chaturika Ariyaratne said "I thank IAA, Rotary and HSBC for presenting this programme to us, as we got the opportunity of listening to the best professionals in each area of advertising, media and marketing.

This gave me a broader understanding of what is expected from us after graduating and in securing employment in professional organisations.

I hope there will be a follow up to this programme, leading up to an internship programme".