AUA Career Services Hosts Seminar

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YEREVAN, Armenia — On February 28, the American University of Armenia (AUA) Career Services hosted representatives from staff.am at a seminar on entering the workforce. Attending students learned about recent labor market analysis in Armenia, career planning strategies, job search processes, and tips for writing competitive CVs. Senior Marketing Specialist Hasmik Hovsepyan and Co-founder Luisa Avetisyan introduced Career Factory and other online platforms for career development. The event concluded with a Q&A session, during which students had the opportunity to explore additional questions. 

Hovsepyan began the seminar by presenting the topics of discussion. She discussed local and modern job search trends in terms of active periods and the most demanded skills by industry and line of business. According to the annual report prepared by staff.am, people were more active in job search in 2022, especially in the month of August, as compared to 2021. The most demanded soft skills were teamwork and time management.

Moving to job search strategies and processes, Hovsepyan divided them into three important steps: self-recognition (SWOT analysis, developed skills, branding), job search, and follow-up. She spoke about the features of staff.am, a website that filters skills and qualifications to suggest the best fit for applicants. By subscribing to company or job pages and using CV-creation tools, applicants can connect with desired companies. The website also helps with follow-up by saving all applied job descriptions and contacts.

A significant portion of the seminar was dedicated to CV-creation techniques. Hovsepyan discussed the main components of a CV and provided examples of both strong and weak ones, indicating what HR specialists want and don’t want to see. Students asked questions by bringing examples from their own CVs and cover letters. The speakers emphasized the importance of considering the advertised job qualifications and the company’s core values to determine how they would fit into its corporate culture.

As the seminar came to a close, the speakers concluded by highlighting the importance of self-development and suggested online platforms that offer free courses. As noted earlier, Career Factory is an online platform for people to get free sessions about different aspects of their career and develop their career strategy.

Overall, the seminar was highly informative. Attending students not only learned about key factors and tools related to entering the job market but also had the opportunity to discuss their individual cases with HR professionals.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.