The Counseling and Career Center (CCC) partnered with the Office of Alumni Relations (OAR) for a career symposium with the theme, “Thomasians Bridging the Gap between Graduation and Career Success” held last March 28, 2025 at the George S.K. Ty Function Halls in the Bl. Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. (BGPOP) Building.
The activity was designed to equip graduating students and alumni with the tools needed to thrive in today’s dynamic job market. The program encouraged its audience to dialogue with guests speakers about employment queries they may have.
The first topic focused on labor education, with Atty. Lila Rodriguez as resource person. Her discussion focused on the fundamental rights of employees, highlighting their right to security of tenure, fair compensation, safe and healthy working conditions, and social security. Atty. Rodriguez also presented a brief background on issues that graduating students would likely encounter when they join the workforce, such as the rules on working hours and rest periods, allowed leaves, hiring and termination, labor unions, and collective bargaining.
Another point of discussion in the program was the challenge of job hunting for fresh graduates and alumni who want to look for new career opportunities. Human Resource Development Management alumnus John Rafael Ching, an HR Generalist and the current Executive Assistant to the Vice President of People and Culture of REBISCO, gave some tips on how graduates can manage expectations and identified nine actionable steps when they navigate the job market. He discussed how self-assessment and understanding the job market landscape will help the applicants better align their career goals and values with their prospective companies, which can highly increase their opportunities and competitive edge. Ching also gave the participants a review on improving their résumés and cover letters to stand out during the employer’s recruitment process.
For the third topic, UST Education alumnus James Vincent Quezada, LPT, a Training and Development professional and currently an E-Learning Manager in TaskUs Philippines, discussed strategies for career growth and workplace culture adaptability using the concept of RPGs (role playing games). He used the term “core stats” to describe the attributes of game characters and emphasize the importance of knowing one’s strengths to flourish at work. Quezada also mentioned the realities of being an employee who naturally faces the challenges of sustaining the grind of professional life. To address the difficulty, he encouraged the participants to set clear personal and professional goals to avoid getting lost and continuously improve themselves through “side quests” to level up like the heroes in games for growth and development.
Participants were given the floor to interact and ask the resource speakers questions about salary expectations, managing rejections, self-development strategies, and the differentiation in types of employment were raised.
At the event, OAR, in partnership with CCC, also launched the Thomasian Alumni Virtual Mentorship Program and introduced the first batch of mentors who will conduct workshop sessions for successful student applicants for the next academic year.
The UST Career Symposium is a part of the annual UST Career Fair organized by the CCC—the fair aims to guide graduating students toward impactful careers.
