On Saturday, August 27, 2022, KSEA South Texas (KSEA-ST) Chapter hosted the Young Generation Forum (YGF) at the 609 Main Conference Center in downtown Houston, Texas. Each YGF event is designed to support the next/young generation of students and young professionals in the Southwest region including Texas and adjacent states by providing useful and practical advice from matured and seasoned professionals and acidemias. With decreased concerns over COVID-19, the KSEA-ST chapter’s Young Generation Group decided to hold the 2022 YGF event in person. Nathaniel R. Han (Assistant Director @Savills; KSEA-ST Secretary & YG Director) served as a Chair of the Event Organizing Committee with various supports including South Texas chapter president, Dr. Junghwan Kim, senior advisors; Dr. Minsu Kim & Dr. Sungyoon Jung, and other executives & staff members.
The event took place at the conference center at 609 Main in Texas, the skyscraper located in downtown Houston, TX. The event venue had one main room which can be separated by sky fold divider two additional rooms which were utilized for smaller group sessions and job interviews. The venue was large enough for 120 participants. In particular, more than 30 students came from Texas A&M’s University, located in College Station, Texas, ~80 miles northwest of Houston, to attend career starter sessions and job interviews afterward.
The event started with icebreaking sessions to encourage audiences and participants to actively involve in the event. Nathaniel Han and Dr. Jeongmin Park, two event committees, hosted the ice-breaking activities, and more than ten participants won prizes for providing the right answers to the quiz. The Opening Ceremony was then presented by Consul Mrs. Sinae Sung on behalf of the Republic of Korea Consulate General in Houston. Following the ceremonies, Mr. Keunggi Min presented and described the opportunities sponsored by the Korean government through KOTRA as part of the KMOVE project, which enables Korean international students to settle down and become stabilized in their new environments. After the brief presentation from KOTRA, we immediately entered a breakout session.
Next, we had three sessions in parallel: (i) Career Starter for current students and people who are seeking jobs, (ii) Early-Career for young professionals with limited experience, and (iii) Academia for graduate students or post-doctoral researchers who want to commit themselves to the academic world. The major target audience for the Career Starter session was undergraduate and graduate students. The session was mediated by Nathaniel Han. The first speaker was HR Manager at Schlumberger, Ms. Tina Yang, who well explained the HR perspective on the hiring process and candidates. The following speaker for the Career Starter session was Dr. Bonjun Koo, who well described the headaches and struggles of hiring managers. In another session at the Early Career session, Dr. Alex Lee from Schlumberger started off with the topic of “how young professionals can develop their careers within the company.” The next session was led by Dr. Cheolkyun Jeong, current KOEA president, who showcased an example of personal asset management and smart credit. The session ended with Dr. Yingwei Yu, who moved from Schlumberger to Amazon recently. He mainly talked about how to improve one’s career to the next level. While the industry tracks are going, the academy session had two guest speakers with over 30 trainees. Dr. Crystal Shin from Baylor College of Medicine talked about the reality of being a research professor and what to expect as an academic. The following speaker was Dr. Junghwan Kim, current president of the South Texas Chapter. He explained how to apply for grants and gave tips for writing better grants for one’s first research.
After the breakout sessions, the keynote speaker, Ms. Jinhee Park, started a fabulous session with activities on the topic of “Design Thinking for Career.” As we expected, she was a seasoned speaker who controlled the audience and drew attention all the time. With the conclusion of our keynote session, both KSEA and KOEA presidents spoke briefly to encourage and endorse audiences’ participation. The event committee prepared a social/happy hour with beverages and hors d’oeuvres, and four companies participated in the event for job interviews and company introductions: Samsung Austin Semiconductor, Hyundai Global Service Americas, SK E&S, and Lotte Chemical.
At YGF this year, the participation of not only the young generation—undergraduate and graduate students—but also senior members of the KSEA community stood out. This was an opportunity for many young generations to broaden their network and gain different perspectives on career development in the US. This event demonstrated that we could have a highly informative and interactive session despite the period of disconnection due to COVID-19. We are very grateful for the support we received from the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Houston, KOTRA, KSEA, KOEA, and all the participants. We sincerely hope that we will build better communities together for the next generation.
Reported by Nathaniel R. Han, Assistant Director @Savills; KSEA-ST Secretary & YG Director
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