Covid surge in Taiwan: pandemic impacts on career planning for students

Taiwan faces its worst Covid-19 outbreak after the Taiwanese government lifted the pandemic border restrictions in March. The growing number of infections has affected the daily lives of people. As the graduation season approaches, more and more students graduating in summer worry about jobs.

According to the Taiwan CDC, more than one million cases have been confirmed since the first day recorded in 2019. Data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) suggest that 435,000 people lost their jobs in March 2022 alone.

To solve the issue of graduation means unemployment, the universities in Taiwan decided to assist students with career preparation virtually.

On May 19, the Taipei Medical University (TMU) collaborated with 23 universities in Taiwan to hold a 10-day virtual career fair, TMU Innovation Expo, which attracted 100,000 students from 635 schools and 21 companies to participate.

Yu-Cheng Hsiao, the director of the Innovation Entrepreneurial Education Center of TMU, stated that a series of live lectures would be held by the business managers, covering topics such as future trends in the biomedical industry and the introduction of new technologies.

Hsiao said, “a variety of lectures would provide students with insight into the industries of the future, real-world observations, and problem-solving skills, which students can’t learn in schools.”

In addition to the universities in Taiwan, the Taiwanese Student Associations of five Ivy League schools in the US announced its first inter-school collaboration, the Ivy Taiwan Career Talk, to help students navigate their future.

Scheduled for May 21, the online workshop invited nine Ivy league graduates to share their working experiences, ranging from law, science, business, and engineering. 

Pin-Chun Chen, a machine learning engineer at Apple, received an invitation to speak at the talk. As a graduate of Columbia University, Chen said that he is glad to help.

“Students could face difficulties finding jobs during the pandemic,” Chen told The Taiwan Times. “I hope our advice would be helpful to prepare students for career planning and hope the pandemic ends soon.”