Changing the world is an aspiration for many undergraduate students as they consider their future employment opportunities.
For the first time, the Faculty of Arts and Career and Placement Services (CaPS) hosted a career forum on the topic of humanitarian and peace-related careers this week. The panel of speakers included Andy Knight, director of the U of A?s Peace and Post-Conflict Studies program; Ren?e Vaugeois, executive director of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights; Brian Rumig, director general of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service; Dorothea Moerer, Amnesty International representative; and Kaitie Worobec, vice-president external of AIESEC Edmonton, who were enthusiastic about providing advice to students on pursuing similar careers and discussed their own career paths as well.
Traveling and gaining life experience was a common theme among all the speakers. ?If you have the opportunity to go to another country to work, do it. You don?t get rich, but the experience you get and what you learn ? you?ll never forget it. I went twice, and I was never sorry,? said Moerer, who has been an active volunteer with Amnesty International for several years.
Vaugeois, who is also the president of Ainembabazi Children?s Project, encouraged students to find their own path by engaging in work that they are passionate about. ?Make sure you carve your niche. This is such a cool field ? humanitarian and peace?. Because it?s interdisciplinary you get to explore all these different avenues? and you can really find out who you are and what you value. Go and do something that hits you, that makes you feel real,? she said.
For students like fourth-year history student Silvia Russell, attending the forum was a basic step towards discovering employment and volunteer opportunities available in this field.
Russell, who will be graduating soon, is interested in working in research or policy in peace and security studies. ?Canada [is] a multicultural society and everyone has ties to everywhere else and I don?t think you can ignore what is going on in the world anymore. It?s everyone?s responsibility, I think, to be informed of what?s going on and if you can help, you should.?
For political science students Naveed Bandali and Hans Lund, the forum provided valuable information as they consider future careers in international relations abroad.
?This is a way where you can try to bring changes. You see on the news all the adversity in the world, and working in policy or working in development is a way to get involved?[and] see changes happen and see positive effects with the work you do,? said Bandali.
?The forum helped in providing a perspective on how each of the panelists arrived at where they are now, and not so we can follow in their footsteps, but to see what footsteps we can take if we want to end up there,? explained Lund, who is now in his fourth year. He says he would, ideally, like to work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as an immigration officer abroad.
In looking to the future, Lund commented on the great importance of careers in this field. ?It is a field where you can effect some change?. As the baby boomers start to retire, I think it?s important for us to step up to the plate and build a world that we want to live in and that we would want our offspring to live in.?
Related Internal Links:
Careers in Arts
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/arts/careers.cfm
Career and Placement Services
http://www.ualberta.ca/CAPS/