MUN for a Practicum

When I was taking up my course in International Studies, the Practicum or On-The-Job Training (OJT) that we had was Model United Nations (MUN). For those of you who might not know what MUN is, it a simulation of the United Nations conference organized by the UN itself, so that students can practice becoming state diplomats. Sounds awesome?
Well the glitter ends there. I really do not know why this should even be considered as an "OJT". I really cannot find any practicality in it.

Anyway, I will continue on.

After I graduated, whenever I applied to a company, the interviewer will always ask you about your OJT experience (like all other fresh graduates). Whenever I tell them about my practicum, I always see my interviewer suppressing a slight laughter. There was even one interviewer who did not know what MUN is and when I explained to him what it was, I just cannot forget the look on his face afterward. He smiled at me with his eyes full of pity and disbelief. I can still remember his reaction up to this day. I remember that the job I was applying for at that time was an admin assistant that deals with office type work.

The look on his face can be for the following reasons:

1. I am applying for a corporate job. My course was totally unrelated to business and my chances of getting into the corporate world is slim.

2. And then, my practicum was MUN. How is that going to help me in my job in the future should I end up working as a admin assistant? How pitiful.

3. The only job available to you might be for foreign affairs or government jobs. But how many openings are there for government jobs and how many people pass the Foreign Service Exam out of the multitude of IS graduates and takers out there.

Oh God, I can only say that MUN as a practicum is so totally far fetched from the reality out there. You are already being trained as a diplomat, when there is hardly even a job opening for a diplomat for fresh graduates. International Studies as a course is too idealistic, impractical and unrealistic. Granted, that a few of my college mates ended up working for an embassy. Most of them ended up working there for only months. But how stable of a job is that? How many embassies are actually offering regularization to new employees. In fact, how many embassies out there actually have job openings?

You know what the saddest part is? The saddest part is that MUN is held in the United States and that you have to pay for it just to participate in it. The school did not give any financial support to the students. All the expenses, from the airfare, to the hotel accomodation up to the fee for the conference itself are all shouldered by the students and their parents. Isn't OJT or Practicum supposed to earn you some money? In the end, the IS students ended up expending tons of money for a practicum that will not even be useful for their careers in the end. How sad... I want to cry.

International Studies... is it a fool's game

I always feel sad of how naive I was when I was studying International Studies back in college. Back then, I did not really pay full attention as to what kind of career awaits me after I graduate from this course. Besides, the topic of job hunting and resume building was almost always a topic that my teachers avoided to discuss to us. And whenever we hear an IS graduate that became a flight attendant or a call center agent, many of my teachers had an indescribable contempt for that person that they some foul language and curse is being hurled at without that person even knowing it.

Here are some of the most memorable reactions:

"Kung magiging stewardess lang naman kayo pagka-graduate ninyo, eh wag na kayong magpakita dito kahit kelan..."
(If you will only end up as flight attendants or call center agents, never ever come back and show your face here ever again.)

"P*t*ng *n*! IS pa naman sya! Bakit sya sa call center, sayang lang pinag-aralan nya!!!"
(Son of a b*tch! He was an IS student, how the hell did he end up like that! All his studies were for nothing!!!)

I personally feel these reactions are uncalled for, overly reactive and suspicious at best.

These reactions probably explain why so many IS graduates never come back to tell their experiences about job hunting and the type of careers they end up getting into.

What is the motivation or reasoning behind these reactions?

These reactions are a subtle way of preventing these IS graduates from informing the current IS students about how hard it is to find a job as a graduate of this course. This is like 'damage control' in its subtlest. If these graduates came back to tell horror stories of their job hunting, I doubt if there will still be many students that will stay with, or take up the International Studies course.

Poor students, they will never be even warned of the danger down ahead after they graduate. They are so naive. It is like a fool walking blindly towards the end of a cliff. (Hence the image above).

I remember myself being like this so vividly. I almost always never paid attention to the career I will be getting after graduation because we were always immersed in total academics and the topic of jobs seldom came up for discussion in class. It is like our attention was being diverted from these things so that we would not even notice the trouble that lies ahead of us. Imagine, how you would feel that after working your ass to study hard and spending lots of time and money, you will only find out that there isn't a bright future ahead of you after the journey.

I do not remember any in depth discussion of job hunting and career opportunities being discussed by my teachers. Come to think of it, during the job fair for our department, all we had was a lonely speaker that talked about how she went to a career that was totally different from her course. Other departments, like the Business Administration and Accounting Departments, had job fairs where the students were able to submit their resumes to the companies who visited our school.

Speaking of resume, I do not remember us being taught how to create a resume!!! Imagine that. I was job hunting without even knowing how to create a proper resume!!!

So, to anyone who will be reading this blog: you have been forewarned! Tread carefully now. It is up to you to change the way things are before they are too late.

International Studies... was it a total waste of time.

I just realized that I have never earned even a single dime from taking up my first course in College (IS). It has never given me any job whatsoever and probably never will. So, was it a total waste of my time?

Most of my other classmates ended up being call center agents. It would have been better for them to have taken up courses like Marketing, Sales or English Literature, as those courses would have helped them more in becoming better agents. Some ended up in totally different fields of profession that are not even remotely connected to Political Science or the social sciences.

Granted, there were a few, who ended up in the IS related jobs, like researchers, congress staffs etc. A few ended up taking up law. But, how many are they? What percentage of the total IS graduates do they represent? Out of 90+ IS graduates in 2002, how many ended up in those kinds of jobs? 6, 7? 10? Really?! If this is the case, then in my opinion, the IS department (or any political science department for that matter) should not be taking in more than 30 new students per year.

If I would be able to turn back time, I would have taken up an IT course from the very beginning instead.