It was a bright day filled with lots of dream seekers reaching the faculty premises for none other than the career expo organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo faculty of management and finance. If I rewind the event to two hours back you would’ve seen our professional development avenue directors, Rtr. Navinda and Rtr. Sandali, our two lovely project co-chairs, Rtr. Melisha and Rtr. Navodya along with our vice president Rtr. Saseni actively runs here and there to make sure every single detail is perfect. Preparations for the panel discussion were done at the East wing Auditorium. Rtr. Theeksha made sure the audio devices were properly checked by singing his so-called “bus sindu”.
After all the arrangements, the event started at 10.30 a.m. with lighting up the traditional oil lamp by the Dean of the faculty PROF MPP DHARMADASA , Co-ordinator of the career guidance unit, Mr. GUNAPALA RANAWEERA, Deputy registrar, Ms. MANJULA DANNANGODA, President of RACUOCFMF, Rtr. Arshad Ismai, Project co-chairperson Rtr.Melisha Gonaduwa and a representative of each company who was present at the career expo. Many industry leaders including MAS holdings, JKH, PWC, Unilever, HNB, Hemas, Sampath bank got on board with us to provide job opportunities to management students of our University. Some stalls were arranged outdoors while some stalls were inside the halls. Reminding of how we cleaned all the halls, my memory runs back to how Rtr. Janul, Rtr. Theeksha, Rtr. Navinda, Rtr. Chanuka (Sudu putha) along with the young Rotaract spirit unstack all those heavy chairs and tables with the motivation of Rtr. Janul’s mixed playlist. P.s. not gonna talk about Rtr. Theeksha’s music taste. However, without their untiring support, cleaning this mess would’ve been impossible.
Moving back to the day of the event, the undergraduates were enthusiastically engaged in the walk-in interviews. The ques were so long that MAS holdings and Hemas never even took their lunch break on time. The 1st panel discussion took place featuring Ms. Pramukshi Kariyawasam, Mr. Jagath Perera, Mr. Chandana Wijayanama. Many boys were seen at the discussion to see gorgeous Ms. Pramukshi and Rtr. Leon made sure to moderate the discussion in grand style. Next was the discussion conducted by Rtr. Piravena was able to gain the attention of the entire audience through her extra talkative skills. The two personalities who joined the second discussion were Prof. Arosha Adhikaram and Ms. Prarthana Ranasinghe.
Meanwhile, the event premises were captivated by the leading companies; it would be a blunder to not mention the food stalls which gained most of the attraction. Management undergraduates can be named as the best hot dog customers of all time, after making the hot dog uncle run back to the nearest store to buy more hot dogs due to the high demand. Slush bar as well as the Maggie truck also had quite the number of customers, leaving Rtr. Vishvi regret the late arrival at the food stalls. “Food festival ekak wageda manda” said a few who were present there.
Last panel discussion was held featuring 3 charming personalities including Mr. Ruzni Faik, Mr. Dulinda Perera and Mr. Russel valentine. It was a really interactive session moderated by our very own Rtr. Thinali, who was praised as the best example of a topic the panel touched upon ‘’presenting yourself properly starts off with how you dress’’. At the Q and A session Rtr. Gayan made sure to gain enough attention from the girls by mentioning that he’s single to a counter-question asked by Mr. Dulinda. Every panel discussion was wrapped up by presenting panelists with a cute cactus plant from our gift partner Ed’s Cactus. At the latter part of the fair Rtr.Sandali and Rtr.Navinda never forgot to go and speak to each and every company to get their feedback on the career expo so that for the next year we can do bigger and better.
Finally, we took the group picture and concluded the project, “What next? Career expo 2022” in style.
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door”
Yet another remarkable physical project came to an end by providing so many great opportunities to young undergraduates at the faculty of management and finance.
