 Bilkent News had a chance to speak with Yıldız Öztürk Balamir, Coordinator of the Career Center, about the importance of Personal Development and what students can expect to gain from the upcoming Career Days.
What does Personal Development entail?
Personal Development teaches instrumental skills for life success, the particular skills that make a difference in one's professional career. Personal development parallels academic life and is an important area where individuals must improve their current skill set. The years spent in university are the basis for this through active participation in extracurricular activities, even if these are dancing, visiting different countries or just simply reading your favorite author's books.
How will attending the Personal Development sessions be useful for students?
The program provides a lot of guidance to raise students' awareness about what skills they have and what skills they need to develop. This program will be very useful to students in all disciplines. Individuals should know what their strengths and weaknesses are so they may target their weaknesses and enhance their strengths.
How was the content chosen for the program?
It took almost a year to prepare this
three-week program. We followed new trends in skills development and asked questions about what people need to have
a successful career. We established focus groups with the students to find out their needs and thought about what more we could add to the program. As a result, the speakers we invited are the best in their fields.
 What are the benefits of this program?
I would like to start with a simple example, like how "planting a tree" can be a metaphor for personal development. We are saying that people will remember the experience and feeling behind planting a tree, and will use this knowledge again later in some part of their lives. Maybe it's not that clear but the concepts lying behind this activity are sharing and solidarity. It is sad to see that youth are displaying a more consuming rather than productive approach to personal development, learning something just to forget it later. Personal Development at Bilkent can give young people the skills to extract meaning and lasting skills from their experiences.
Some of the topics that we aimed to raise awareness about are entrepreneurship, leadership, effective communication, lifelong learning, presentation skills, business meeting and reporting, which are mostly seen as core skills areas in today's business world. Photography, for example, may be an activity that helps a person find their inner talents, but the skills learned can also transfer to one's work life. These days, life requires being versatile. It is possible to say that we can find our inner happiness by just being multidisciplinary, and this reflects in our professional lives. Companies are spending thousands of dollars to make these types of programs available for their employees. This program is a real treasure to those who know to take advantage of it.
What are the Career Center's plans for future programming?
This year we started with Sector Introduction Meetings, continuing with Personal Development Days. After that, the Career Fair will be held on March 11, followed by firm presentation meetings and interview opportunities for job candidates. From November to April, we have organized a wide range of other career-based activities.
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