[New Crown Pneumonia] CityU launches a series of online support to increase student employment and improve physical and mental health

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Written by: Wang Yuechen

2020-08-26 03:00

It has been more than half a year since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, which has changed the lives of the people, affecting Hong Kong and the global economy, and worrying about the prospects of college students. Under the advocacy of the Vice President (Student Affairs) Professor Yip Haosheng, the Student Development Office of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has launched a number of online support services, including employment counseling, psychological counseling, online volunteer groups, and sports training, etc. Apart from getting employment support for students, they also make good use of time to improve their physical and mental health.

A series of online support to improve job search success rate​

The economy has been dragged down by the epidemic, and employment has become the primary concern of students. CityU allocated HK$10 million to provide a series of employment support, launched the "City" development plan, cooperated with different companies and provided matching funds by CityU, subsidized one-third of graduates' salaries for three consecutive months, with a monthly ceiling of HK$6,000 to encourage employers to create more job opportunities for CityU graduates. Dr. Huang Zhitian, Director of the Student Development Office of City University, said that City University’s career and employability consultant team will provide professional support to recent graduates through different platforms, such as one-to-one consultation services with Zoom. "The project has provided more than 1,200 job vacancies so far. We have also distributed the latest job vacancy information to graduates through JobPlus, an online employment database, and posted job vacancy reminders through mobile SMS."

CityU holds a business festival every year to cooperate with different companies to encourage employers to create more job opportunities for graduates. (The picture shows the 2019 CityU Business Day) (In the front row are Professor Ren Guangyu, Vice President of Academic Affairs (fourth from right), Professor Ye Haosheng (fourth from left), Vice President (Student Affairs), and Associate Vice President of Science (Academic Planning and Undergraduate Education) Prof. Juan Li (third from right), Dean of Studies, Prof. Yongkang Cui (second from right), and Director of Student Development Office, Dr. Huang Zhitian (third from left))

The epidemic continues, and City University held an "Employment Consultation Month" from May to June this year, which included more than 60 online events and invited companies such as KPMG, New World Development Co., Ltd., foodpanda, etc. , Recruitment and job hunting skills seminars are conducted through Zoom software. At the same time, there are various workshops to enhance the fresh graduates' understanding of positions in different industries and improve their job search skills. Dr. Huang said that he was very pleased that students welcome online employment support, saying that the "Employment Consultation Month" attracted more than 2,000 students to participate, reflecting that the activity fully responded to the needs of students.

Dr. Huang Zhitian, Director of the Student Development Office of City University, pointed out that the University will hold the online "City" Career Expo 2020 for the first time, inviting companies and organizations from different industries to conduct recruitment and job hunting skills seminars through Zoom to strengthen the graduates’ understanding of positions in different industries. understanding.

Dr. Huang pointed out: "We have planned to hold the one-month online "City" Career Expo 2020 for the first time from September to October this year. Students can participate in the online employment expo and a series of pre-employment activities, which is believed to be beneficial to employment development. And establish a good relationship with the employer. "

Online "City" Career Expo 2020​

CityU will invite companies and organizations from different industries to use Zoom to conduct recruitment and job search skills seminars. It is expected to provide more than 100 online seminars and workshops, including activities including:

-Online job exhibition: Provide graduate positions and internship vacancies for students, and also set up real-time online interaction-meeting with employers

-Thematic workshop

-Job search skills sharing session and interactive chat room for business management professionals

-Student experience sharing session

In addition, CityU launched the online global internship program for the first time, cooperating with employers in Berlin, Munich, Sydney and Taipei to provide more than 20 students with 6 to 8 weeks of work experience this summer, so that students can still work at home during the epidemic , To prepare for career development. At the same time, CityU also actively provides various online employment training activities. For example, the mock interview contest of Ruibo Fair allows students to gain interview experience and professional opinions; Yexin Night at the Student Dormitory Office invites well-known entrepreneurs to share their valuable careers with students. Experience and information to improve the employability of students.

Student volunteers spontaneously design scientific experiment packages to make good use of resources to help others and themselves

"Helping others is the foundation of happiness"-CityU firmly believes that students' participation in volunteer services can improve their physical and mental health. Therefore, they continue to encourage students to participate in volunteer services. Apart from helping others, they have a unique service learning experience. Kathy Lai, a Bachelor of Social Science (Social Work) student from CityU who is intern at a local social welfare organization, has been participating in service learning activities organized by the university. Affected by the epidemic in recent months, all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong have been closed, and the children's services of social welfare organizations, including after-school care support services, can only maintain limited operations, which has greatly increased the pressure on grassroots family caregivers. "Family caregivers have to take care of work and children, but the children are unable to go out to consume energy and increase friction between family members. Therefore, I contacted the Student Development Office Community Service Project (CEP) to cooperate with other students to design 3. A scientific experiment package for the first non-face-to-face volunteer service with the assistance of the school."

Volunteers have designed 3 scientific experiment kits so that children can learn new things at home. This activity encourages parents and children to participate together, which helps to enhance parent-child relationship and relieves financial pressure for families who cannot afford additional entertainment expenses.

Kathy said that from her services, she further understood that grassroots families lacked social resources, and that they were the first to face various pressures during the epidemic. "Therefore, it is very important for the private sector to voluntarily connect community resources and respond to their actual needs in a timely manner. I think that more online volunteer services can be implemented in the future to respond to the social and psychological needs of grassroots children under the epidemic, and to carry out related relations for different groups. Take care of your work.” This online volunteer service has benefited many grassroots families and Kathy has gained experience in organizing alternative events.

Student volunteers have carefully prepared a Chinese-English experiment kit supplemented with pictures, so that grassroots children who have stayed at home for a long time can enjoy learning and entertainment during the epidemic.

The CityU Community Service Project also held a number of non-face-to-face volunteer services from July to August this year, including support for secondary school students and grass-roots seniors through hotlines; service learning activities were carried out in the form of live webcasts for the public Understand the situation of disadvantaged groups; and use video calls to read picture books with grassroots families, etc. Participating students all expressed that the service forms are novel and serve the society in unexpected ways.

Push online counseling to protect students' mental health in extraordinary times

CityU has always attached importance to the mental health of students. The impact of the epidemic will inevitably increase the psychological burden on students. In order to cope with the social distancing measures implemented in Hong Kong in early February this year, and to take into account the health of students and faculty, CityU began to provide psychological counselling services through a 24-hour telephone hotline and Zoom under the guidance of the Dean of Education, Professor Cui Yongkang. Students in need provide support. Ms. Wang Jieling, Senior Counseling Director of CityU, said that psychological counseling services emphasize the contact between people. Only through physical conversation can the real feelings and needs of the recipients be detected. Even under the restrictions of the epidemic, some students choose to counsel by telephone or Zoom, experienced counselors can still feel the distress of the students from the students' speech, voice, speed and intonation. "Some students said that they had to adapt to psychological counseling by telephone or Zoom at first, but they still felt the sincere care of the counselor and were willing to continue to receive counseling. Many students thanked the counselor for accompanying through the difficulties." CityU also Proactively contacting students participating in the overseas exchange program through Zoom and phone calls, as well as the overseas students of City University who stayed in their own country for health and safety reasons, will enable students to deal with the pressures of adversity.

Ms. Wang Jieling, Senior Counselling Director of CityU, said she helped students solve problems by counseling students on the phone or Zoom.

CityU continues to provide students with psychological counselling services in different ways to help them tide over adversity.

Create sports videos to strengthen your body and fight the epidemic

During the epidemic, not only schools in Hong Kong were closed, but many recreational and sports activities were also forced to suspend, and the use of recreational and sports facilities was also suspended. However, in order to encourage students and faculty to exercise continuously, CityU has specially produced short exercise videos so that everyone can do simple exercises of different intensities at home or in the office to maintain health and relieve stress. Mr. Sun Guang, CityU’s Chief Sports Officer, said: “The CityU community can maintain exercise habits while maintaining social distancing. It is also hoped that the CityU community can develop good habits of regular exercise to enhance their immunity and maintain physical and mental health. He said that under the circumstances of the uncertain global epidemic situation, sports at home may become a new trend. Therefore, in the future, he plans to produce more diversified sports videos to meet the sports needs of different people.

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