The UKZN Mu Eta Chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN) Honours Society recently hosted the Entering the Real World workshop at the UNITE Building, Howard College.

The workshop was convened to promote students’ research and to hone some of their skills. The focus was also on preparing students for the job market and included a sessions on how to write a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and how to prepare for job interviews.

Dr Han van Loon, a knowledge management expert from Switzerland and a representative of several international standards-setting bodies, was the guest speaker at the workshop. He took the audience through the rudiments of writing an excellent CV that has the potential to attract employers.

During the workshop participants were split into groups which then discussed different samples of CVs, pointing out mistakes, correcting them and making the necessary adjustments based on Loon’s lessons.

Loon furthermore, gave different interactive interview lessons to sharpen the audience’s interview skills and carried out one-on-one mock interview sessions with some of participants present at the workshop.

‘After attending this workshop, I have become aware of areas in job interviews that should be prepared and researched from beforehand, as well as a better idea of how to deal with less straightforward questions. Our value as Engineers remains but as prospective job applicants our value needs to be defined in relation to the job we have applied for,’ said Naymah Adnan, a final-year Honours student in Electronic Engineering at UKZN.

Samson Zitha, an MSc candidate in Computer Engineering said ‘The IEEE Workshop held in UKZN has helped broaden my knowledge on how to present myself for the world of reality. I have learnt a lot from the wealth of experience of the guest speaker – Dr Loon, and I wish we could repeat the workshop all over again. I remember Han said: Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing.’

The workshop was attended by approximately 45 participants including academic staff from the Disciplines of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Information Systems and Technology. Professor Viranjay Srivastava, an academic from the Discipline of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, gave the closing remarks.

Words: Dauda Ayanda

Photograph: Christian Ishimwe