ECDC, Supported by AUC, Organizes First Employment Fair

March 31, 2015, Cairo – The Employability and Career Development Center (ECDC) at Suez Canal University (SCU) organized today its first employment fair. The fair, which was held under the auspices of Professor Mamdouh Ghorab, SCU president and Professor Kamal Sharobim, vice president for community service and environmental affairs, was also attended by AUC Career Center staff members. The participating companies represent various industries and promise to provide a wide range of career opportunities in business, engineering and medical fields, with more than 120 job opportunities. The ECDC at Suez Canal University was established in 2012 as a result of an agreement between SCU and The American University in Cairo (AUC), with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). AUC’s Career Center provided its technical expertise and trained the ECDC staff to become certified career development facilitators providing career guidance to SCU students and recent graduates.  The project, funded by USAID, utilized funds and allocated space at Ain Shams, Suez Canal and Assiut universities to inaugurate employability and career development centers that replicate AUC’s Career Center model. Career Center professionals, who are licensed from the National Career Development Association in the United States, worked closely with these institutions to furnish the ECDCs, as well as recruit, train and certify career-development facilitators. They also built ECDC staff capacity by offering on-the-job training on how to run a career center, organize employment events and fairs, as well as create and coordinate career and employment activities. “In the ECDC project, AUC's Career Center is investing its 24 years of experience in career education in building the capacities of career guidance professionals at various Egyptian universities to support their students throughout the career planning process,” said Maha Guindi,  executive director of the AUC Career Center. “By supplying students with basic job-search skills, as well as interview and résumé-building tips, we are ensuring that they are leaving university with expertise that will benefit them for life.” The project’s main aims are to develop a generation of career educated graduates who possess the right skills for today’s job market, and bridge the current gap between education and employment needs. Its key goal is to avail career guidance and employability skills to public university students to equip them with the right skills for the world of work. To date, ECDC has provided more than 2000 students of Suez Canal University with career management workshops focusing on resume writing, interviewing skills and job search. In addition, English courses and employability skills training were provided to help the students prepare effectively for the labor market. The center has also hosted companies and educational institutes on SCU campus to meet with students and share with them job opportunities, summer trainings and graduate study information. AUC’s Career Center was established in 1991 as the first University career center in the Middle East that provides comprehensive employment and recruitment services to students, alumni and employers. For many years, the Career Center has educated students and alumni for lifelong career planning, providing assistance in identifying professional objectives, designing and implementing job-search strategies, as well as exploring experiential learning, employment and postgraduate opportunities.