Due to its engagements for students’ professional development, the Ateneo Career Center and Alumni Hub (ACCAH) earns distinction from the United States Agency for International Development-Science, Technology, Research, and Innovation for Development Program (USAID-STRIDE) as a “Model Career Center in the Philippines.”
During the virtual celebration of ACCAH’s 3rd year anniversary last Saturday, Career Center Officer Norman Lou Padilla shared that the “heavy involvement” of the AdDU alumni contributes to ACCAH’s stellar performance.
“What made us [the ACCAH] unique is that we are the only career center in which the alumni are a big part of it. In other career centers, they [are] separate—the alumni affairs, and the career center,” he said.
Various AdDU alumni from private and public sectors conduct mentorship to students as part of the latter’s career guidance.
ACCAH is currently one of the three institutions in the country to receive such recognition. Career hubs from the Technological Institute of the Philippines and the University of the Southeastern Philippines also received this distinction.
Undeterred by pandemic
Despite the pandemic’s limitations, ACCAH continues to engage in providing job and career opportunities by spearheading webinars on career development and conducting monthly hiring events.
Padilla reported that the career center formed partnerships with 142 companies in 2018. This number grew to 241 companies in 2019 and finally 310 in 2020. Partnerships with other companies allow ACCAH to provide more opportunities to students seeking jobs in line with their desired career.
ACCAH also received 1,105 job postings as of March 2020 and an additional 100 from June 2020 to January 2021.
A combined career center-alumni coordination hub, ACCAH aims to “heavily” converge the students, alumni, and other industry partners to produce and guide university graduates’ future careers.
ACCAH began as a collaboration between the College Guidance Center, the Alumni Affairs Office, and the Ateneo Blue Knight Association with the aim of giving job opportunities to the graduating batches of AdDU.
Prior to its formation in 2018, mentorship trainings in partnership with USAID and STRIDE had already been conducted to create a building ground for ACCAH’s mentorship framework.
“Men and women for others” outside academia
During the virtual celebration, various alumni of the University also shared their thoughts on ACCAH’s success, proving that the hub instilled the value of “men and women for others” to help graduating students fulfill their future careers.
Oliver Tiu, current Vice President for Operations of Mindanao for SM Shopping Center, admitted that the “sense of giving back and paying it forward” prevailed upon his involvement to ACCAH in such webinars.
“I felt that there was a calling to be part of the Ateneo de Davao University’s legacy. That legacy is to be men and women for others- being a formidable force of service to others for the common good,” the BSBA Marketing alumnus expressed.
On the other hand, Paul Borromeo, President of Borromeo Insurance Agency and a BSBA Marketing alumnus, shared that the hub “allowed them to reach out to the next generation of graduates.”
“…so that they can take up our mission of not sales, but service in the spirit of being men and women of others,” he continued.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary Luzviminda Ilagan asserted that the University and ACCAH’s aim should continually guide future generations from their chosen careers while instilling the said Atenean value.
“… where we ensure that we are producing a generation of leaders who will one day be models, not only on governance but also of good citizenship,” the former professor and alumni officer of the University said.
Sharing the ACCAH’s future plans, Padilla said that they intend to pioneer the first “Virtual Job Fair” in partnership with the College Guidance Center. More details about this plan will be revealed soon, said the Career Center Officer.