One of the new initiatives that President Joe Zagala started right after his election is the Career Planning and Development program.  The Council considers this initiative a very important part of its action plan for the next two years, thus, included a Career  Development Group in the 2009-2010 committee structure.  This group, CDG for short, is headed by no less than Vice President Fred Gamboa.  Chirs Vasquez was assigned to assist Fred in giving flesh to this new initiative.

 

There are two sub-groups in CDG - the Career Planning and the Mentoring Program.  Career Planning is headed by Vince Rallon while Mentoring Progam, which is a contination from the previous years, is headed by Gilbert Esmele.

 

The Mentoring Program is tasked to give counsel and coaching to UP graduates who are new in Canada.  The idea is to shorten the ramp up period and help the newcomer adjust to Canadian life and to get a job as quickly as possible. To each mentee is assigned a UPAA member who acts as mentor and provides advise, guidance and counselling. There are already new mentees for this year and Gilbert is actively looking for more.

 

After careful planning and a lot of discussions with Fred Gamboa and Chris Vasquez, 

Career Planning chairperson Vince Rallon launch its initial job networking activity with a Pub Night at the Brant House in Toronto.  It was attended by about 25 people, mostly young UP grads who are members or about to be members of UPAA. The event provided an opportunity for these young men and women to experience what it is to be in a real job networking environment. Other plans in the offing are resume building, interview preparation, job searching, etc.

 

Meanwhile, Prez Joe Zagala, Chris Vasquez and Estelita Bautista-Chan have been posting job search announcements in the yahoo group for the benefit of all members.