On the 17th of October, 2020, a 'Career Networking Event" was held by Office of Career Development at Sunset Beach, NSYSU, where GHRM MBA & IBMBA alumni currently working in Taiwan networked with the students and offered essential tips for improving their career prospects in Taiwan.
Before the program began, delicious treats were presented to the attendees to enjoy. The formal event began with Student Association vice president Jonathan greeting the crowd and welcoming the Dean of College of Management, Professor San-Yih Hwang, to deliver the opening speech. Unlike the previous ones, Dr. San Yih-Hwang remarked that the event was specifically designed for international students. He also noted that Taiwan was a better place to live and encouraged international students to seek employment in Taiwan after graduation. He was optimistic that the GHRM MBA & IBMBA degree would be helpful due to the prestige of NSYSU.
The very charismatic alumnus Mr. Matthew Hopkins who is currently working as an International Sales Executive in ZMI Electronics, Ltd., served as the moderator. IBMBA alumni Trent Prestegar and Wendy Tang gave valuable tips on ‘First Job Survival Kit’ from their own experience. Trent is working for the international marketing department in Moshi Taiwan, and he emphasized the importance of networking and encouraged the attendees to join networking groups as well. Wendy, who is currently working as a business development manager in a company called International Cosmetic Suppliers Limited, advised the crowd to have an open mind, to learn Chinese, and to make friends in the workplace.
GHRM MBA alumni Yulia Balkhanova and Michal Ryznar touched upon the topic of “CV: Do’s and Dont’s/job hunting/how to assess a potential employer/ interview preparation’. Yulia is currently working as a project manager in Rost Group and Technology Co., Ltd, and Michal is employed as an assistant sales manager in a start-up company called Amaryllo Inc. Michal encouraged the students to get as many interviews as possible to improve their interviewing skills, which is critical for landing good jobs. He also noted that the GHRM MBA & IBMBA degrees would "open a lot of doors." Julia recalled how she sent numerous job applications after she graduated and advised the students to do the same as it can lead them to a job interview. As for interviews, she urged them not to be nervous and to be prepared for anything.
After Julia and Michal, IBMBA alumni Alexandre Mimault and Daniel Aschauer briefed the attendees on "operating in Taiwanese professional culture-communication styles, cultural differences." Alexandre is working as a vie-e-commerce and marketing business controller in Carrefour Taiwan, and Daniel is currently the deputy general manager in Anton Paar Taiwan. Daniel remarked that the Taiwanese people were positive, caring, and helpful but also noted that the Taiwanese workplace was "not like in university" as it was more competitive, and people didn't like admitting mistakes. According to his experience, Alexandre noted that the line between personal and professional life in Taiwan was “blurry” and advised the students to set a clear distinction when they start working.
GHRM MBA alumnus Robin Slootmaker and IBMBA alumnus Vigor Arisandi spoke on the topic of "skills to develop for the workplace (google analytics, project management techniques)." Robin is currently working as an international sales manager in Biotek Environmental Science Ltd., and Vigor is a UI/UX designer at FUNPODIUM. Robin exhorted the students on the importance of CRM systems and encouraged them to learn about CRM systems as soon as possible. He also gave tips on presentation skills and advised them to keep presentations “clean, simple, and clear." Vigor also talked about his shift from accounting to a career in UI/UX design and advised the students to focus on what they want to do.
After the program was over, the alumni still stuck around despite their busy schedules to interact and network with the current students. It was a memorable event catching up with GHRM MBA & IBMBA alumni, who were all doing fantastic in their respective careers. The tips and advice will undoubtedly be advantageous for students to jumpstart their careers.
【Conference】Research results shared in international online workshop on big data analysis
The College of Management of NSYSU, Aspire Academy, and the School of Information Systems of Singapore Management University (SMU) organized an online workshop on big data analysis, concentrating on such topics as strategic human capital management, business analytics, and Human Talent Analytics, during which scholars of both universities shared the results of their research. The College of Management drew from the development achievements of SMU in business big data and HR to cultivate management researchers with a global vision and improve the international influence of the College of Management.
The workshop was hosted by professors of both universities: Dean of the College of Management San-Yih Hwang, Dean of the School of Information Systems Professor Pang Hwee Hwa, and Director of the Living Analytics Research Center at SMU Professor Ee-Peng Lim. Regarding the research on strategic human capital, the winner of the Outstanding Research Award of the Ministry of Science and Technology – Director of the Institute of Human Resource Management Professor Nai-Wen Chi shared the results of his research on the everyday work resources waste and restoration at workplace. Professor Ee-Peng Lim of SMU applied methods of big data analysis to job market analysis, integrated data on vacancies announced in job banks, and obtained information on the employment-seekers’ requirements and salary expectations regarding different categories of vacancies, depending on their gender, background, and personality traits.
Regarding the research on business big data analysis, Assistant Professor Huei-Fang Yang of the Department of Information Management at NSYSU presented her research which focuses on the development of zero-shot hashing and self-supervised hashing methods to reduce the reliance on large amounts of annotated training data and to solve real life problems. Professor Pao-Lien Chen and Assistant Professor Yu-Hsuan Wang of the Institute of Human Resource Management shared their research on expatriate assignments and firm performance in international markets, and the impact of career path and development in organization, respectively.
Professor Jack Shieh-Chieh Hsu of the Department of Information Management shared his study on linking the maturity of AI in business with human capital and college education. Assistant Professor Yi-Huang Kang shared the results of his research on accelerating Learning with Expert-in-the-loop. Assistant Professor Huei-Fang Yang gave a presentation on how deep learning can help develop rapid image search technologies. Several SMU professors shared their research on course grade prediction, retail business analytics, graph analytics and recommender systems, topic and sentiment analysis & MITB (Artificial Intelligence) programme. Professors of both universities engaged in lively interaction and exchange online, and after the meeting, discussed further future cooperation.
Dean San-Yih Hwang said that business big data analysis at the College of Management is one of the focal items of the Higher Education Sprout Project of the Ministry of Education. Rich software and hardware resources of the College help apply integrated business big data analysis technologies to business management research. The focus on human resource management and information management helps cultivate management professionals and researchers with a global vision and connections to the industry and then, bring in the second wave of international competitiveness of Taiwan.
【Speech】 the Man with no National Identity: A Citizen of Globalization
Goran Aleksic, a GHRM MBA alumni and Marketing Consultant of the company ‘Home-Brown International Co.’, visited us on 23rd October 2020 – in order to share his experience with students attending the courses: ‘Business Ethics and Social Responsibility’ and ‘Organizational Politics’, which are taught by Dr. Ryan Brading.
Goran began his fascinating presentation stating that he very much dislikes when people ask him: ‘where do you come from?’. This is a difficult question for him because he doesn’t know how to answer it. Goran was born in Yugoslavia: a country that doesn’t exist anymore. Because of Yugoslavia’s civil war which started in 1991, Goran shared the traumatic and bloody experiences he faced during his childhood, as well as the circumstances that forced his family to abruptly leave Yugoslavia and become refugees in Germany. It was shocking to hear the very distressing stories he shared with us, such as family members been killed by soldiers, piles of dead bodies in the streets, collecting the used bullets on the streets with his brother, and so on.
By having to deal with a tough childhood, that is, moving from country to country, witnessing the screams and cries of war; Goran constructed his own ‘refugee mentality’ mechanism. From an early age, Goran has had to find ways to mentality adapt to the changing environment and make sure he escapes the scars of war and uncertainty. His ‘refugee mentality’ approach has helped him keep a positive attitude to life and feel that “Everything is okay!”.
Goran stressed that whenever he encounters an uncomfortable situation, instead of running away, he embraces any challenges because nothing would ever be worse than the war he and his family had to endure. “I am comfortable by being uncomfortable” he said. Goran’s talk showed us how strong and positive he is and the importance of having a cheerful spirit. It was truly inspiring chat.
As part of his journey, from Germany his family decided to settle in the US – where he was offered by several American universities – full undergraduate scholarships. Due to his sportsmanship ability universities wanted Goran to add his skills in their soccer teams. He was so good that they also wanted him to help them in their American football team. After graduating from Eckerd College in 2007, Goran realized that he had to see the world and started traveling. He first went to Korea for two years, then he went traveling in Europe for about 6 months before he came to Taiwan. In that process, he fell in love with Asia.
He spent two years in Korea teaching kids English. He said, “that was the most fulfilling time”. Working with children fills up that traumatic gap he experienced during his childhood. Teaching children has helped him sentimentally connect with Asian cultures. He came to Taiwan at the end of 2010 and has stayed here ever since. He has built up a great life in Taiwan by working as a marketing consultant at Home-Brown: a famous local Taiwanese food brand. He shared his Home-Brown work experience.
His interpersonal skills and lively character have helped him enormously to meet and connect with people from different backgrounds and cultures. He also has a young and beautiful family. He met a girl from South Africa in Taiwan, they married and have two lovely daughters. At the end of the class, he said to the students, “The best thing to do in your life is to travel and work with people that are not like you. You also have to be open and embrace difficult challenges. The relationships that you can build with different cultures are not available in textbooks. DON’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE!” Goran is truly a guy with great stories to tell. His story and adventures continue…
【Interview】GHRM MBA Newbie Spotlight: Meet Michal Polacek
Today, we bring another exciting story from our GHRM MBA newbie Michal Polacek.
Michal is from the Czech Republic, and for his bachelor's, he studied civil engineering. He's a big fan of athletics and sports, and for his hobbies, he loves soccer, tennis and recently in Taiwan, he has started to enjoy badminton as well. He's also a nature enthusiast and has made it his goal to climb all the 台灣百岳 (Taiwan 100 Peaks) and small peaks as well. Before he came to Taiwan, Michal worked as an intern in one of the Czech Republic's biggest companies and was responsible for budgeting and preparation for new projects.
Michal was looking for a reputed MBA program in Kaohsiung, and when he found out that NSYSU was offering an English GHRM MBA program along with free Chinese classes, he decided to apply for the GHRM MBA program. As for the best thing about NSYSU, Michal is enchanted by the serene landscape of NSYSU. He shares:
“I love the location. The view on the ocean is breathtaking. In 2018 when I was choosing University for summer school, I chose NSYSU just because of the beach. Really loved it and I am happy to be back. “
Michal notes that the people he has met in NSYSY are 'interesting' and 'amazing'. As for his favorite course, he's enjoying organizational politics, which is taught by professor Ryan Brading. According to Michal:
“I am in the first grade and have only 5 subjects. But definitely my favorite subject so far is Organizational Politics. The professor way of teaching for me is the most suitable compare to the others. Also the content is something what I like.”
As Michal comes from a completely different academic discipline, he says that he did face some challenges. According to Michal:
“Definitely it is the way of teaching. I am not used to this method of self-studying. As I said I studied engineering where the professors were teaching us what we should know for the exam. Here we have to read a lot of books, papers and articles and make presentations. Then we have a discussion at class about the topic. I still struggle a lot with this way of studying and teaching. I cannot say which way is better, it is just my personal problem to deal with it.”
As of now, Michal is busy with school work and is also working on improving his Chinese skills. He doesn't have a concrete plan, but, in the future, he hopes to work in the building industry.
GHRM MBA is elated to have Michal as part of our family and hope he has a great time at NSYSU. In the coming days, we'll continue to bring stories from our brilliant students.
【International Program】A Spooky Good Time: Halloween
Halloween is one of the most awaited holidays of the year, and the GHRM MBA & IBMBA programs celebrated it with much gusto and fanfare. The event was held at Si Wan College on the 30th of October, 2020. The participant from various departments attended the program with creative costumes and spooky makeup. The attendees enjoyed and savoured the mouth-watering food and drink the programs offered. The multi-talented GHRM MBA student, Anna Tretyakova, also provide the singing performance with her beautiful voice.
At the beginning of the event, NSYSU students who displayed their creativity for the 'Upcycle Award' were felicitated by Prof. Kim Choy Chung. The first place was bagged by Ysanne Chen (IBMBA), second place went to YCP (Aurora Elsa-GHRM MBA & Tiara Cornelia-ICAPS), and third place went to Bui Thi Thanh Nhan (IBMBA). For getting the most likes and shares, team HiHa (Tran Khanh Chi-CLC and Alex Dang-GHRM MBA) were presented with the popularity award.
The participants showed their creativity by dressing and making up like different characters. From Medusa to Dora the Explorer, the event was filled with fantastic costumes. Yvonne Liu (IBMBA 1st year), who dressed up as Pennywise from the horror movie 'It,' was adjusted as the winner of the 'best costume' award. An excited Yvonne thanked the crowd for voting for her and exclaimed that GHRM MBA and IBMBA were the best.
Elsa, a 2nd-year GHRM MBA student, remarked that she truly enjoyed the event as Halloween was 'one of a kind' and was a great way to relax and unwind before the up-coming mid-terms.
Everyone loving photography, whether a student, professional or non-professional photographer, is invited to participate in this global photo competition. The best photos are awarded and shown worldwide. You can participate online under www.globalphotoawards.com until April 4th, 2021. There are two categories, People and Nature, with a total of $10,000 in cash prizes. In each category, the prizes are split accordingly: $3,500 for the 1st place, $1,000 for the 2nd place and $500 for the 3rd place. An international jury judges every entered work and awards the prizes. The submission fee depends on the number of images entered by a participant and is as follows: $30 for the first photo, $25 for the second photo and $15 for every additional photo. All fees and prizes are in USD. One submission is free by using the “NSYSU” coupon.
Submission Deadline: April 4th, 2021 For more information visit: www.globalphotoawards.com Contact: office@globalphotoawards.com
【Speech】Applications of Neuroscience in Management Research(12/8)
Date: 2020/12/08 Venue: CM4112 & CM2032 Topic: Applications of Neuroscience in Management Research Speaker: Prof. Yuan-Pin Lin, Prof. Deng-Neng Chen Host: Prof. Jack Shih-Chieh Hsu sigh up: https://tinyurl.com/y2xdgjrb
Wow! Fancy winning USD 1,000,000 to change the world? The world's biggest entrepreneurship competition will start from the Hult Prize NSYSU on the 12th of December.
🤔What is the Hult Prize? Hult Prize is a non-profit organisation that helps students engage with real-world issues by holding a global competition. The Hult Prize Finals crowns winner team will gain 1 million USD to change the world with their business ideas.
🤔 How to apply for the Hult Prize? . 🔗Apply NOW 🔗https://forms.gle/T31jdYd6t6yYiLrb9 . 👉 Theme: "Food for Good" (https://bit.ly/32oox9a ) . 👉Each team should consist of 3 to 4 current students from NSYSU. 👉 6-min presentation of the pitching & 4-min Q & A with judges . 👉The pitching can be in English or Mandarins; however, the winning team should present in English at the regional summit. . FOLLOW US! 😆♥️ . Facebook: @hultprizensysu https://www.facebook.com/hultprizensysu/ . Instagram: @hultprizensysu https://www.instagram.com/hultprizensysu/ . LinkedIn: HultPrize Nsysu https://www.linkedin.com/company/hult-prize-nsysu . Twitter: @HultPrizeNsysu https://twitter.com/HultPrizeNsysu