Classroom to Careers: Charting your Humanities Journey

“Classroom to Careers: Charting Your Humanities Journey” is a conversational Roundtable event organised by the NTU School of Humanities. Spearheaded by Dr Ritu Jain, Assistant Chair of Careers and Outreach at SoH, the event brought together eminent leaders in various industries to share their thoughts on how humanities students can package themselves for careers in non-traditional, unconventional roles in industries, such as consulting, FMCG, e-commerce, entrepreneurship and public relations.

 

Special thanks to our inspiring speakers: 

- Abhijit Naik, Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Amazon

- Ben Lee, Assistant Director, Communications and Engagement, ACE.sg

- Helene Mayne, Senior Change Management Consultant, KPMG Singapore

- Jordan Price, Regional Head of Planning, Publicis Singapore

- Kimsukha Narasimhan, CFO, Kimberly Clark APAC

During the Roundtable, the panellists shared how Humanities students can position themselves as they plan their trajectory from classrooms to careers: in securing placements (internship/jobs), growing and finding fulfilment in their roles, skills and qualities employers look for, and much more. They also shared their personal journeys that did not follow linear and/or accepted paths conventionally considered acceptable. Speakers also encouraged attributes of curiosity, agility, and complex sense making -- attributes of the Humanities.

Some questions asked during the session include: is a further education degree (i.e. MA, PhD) necessary for the job-seeker to stand out, how should employees ask questions in the workplace when they are new there, and how would they know what jobs they should apply for.

 

At the end of the session, some students stayed to chat with the panellists to hear more in-depth sharing.