DU Law Department hosts Career Talk on ‘Career in Law’
Law students face the dilemma of choosing their career path from a plethora of available options once they graduate. This, however, becomes a daunting task for many due to the absence of proper guidelines. With this in view, the Career Club of Department of Law, University of Dhaka (DU) hosted the 2nd Career Talk on ‘Career in Law’ on November 14, 2018. Students of the department from freshman year up to master’s level spontaneously participated at the event.
During his welcome address, Mr. Mohammad Golam Sarwar, Advisor, Career Club and Lecturer, Department of Law, described the necessity of career planning at an early stage for the students. Referring to the finding of a study that 47% of our graduates remain unemployed, he commented that a lack of proper skills, both hard and soft, is the key factor behind this. Mr. Sarwar concluded by urging the participants to act duly upon the takeaways from this event.
He was succeeded by the first discussant, Mr. Al Asad Md. Mahmudul Islam, Deputy Director, Judicial Administration Training Institute. Outlining the entire process of the Bangladesh Judiciary Service exam, Mr. Islam shed light on the particular skills that the aspiring candidates of the judiciary would be judged on during the viva voce. He remarked that someone with sobriety, eagerness to learn, and a high level of prudence would definitely flourish in their career as a judge.
As the talk progressed, the speaker also discussed the other career opportunities for law students and opined that they should not restrict their career options to one or two fields only. Speaking from his personal experiences of serving both in the corporate and NGO sectors prior to joining the judiciary, Mr. Islam showed how each of his experience helped him attain the valuable skills necessary for the job sector. Towards the end, he spoke at length on the facilities and the future prospects of a career in the judiciary.
Afterward, Mr. Mahmudul Hoque Moni, Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, shared his views on theperspectives, prospects and challenges of a career in the Bangladesh Civil Service. He elaborated on the reasons why BCS is such a lucrative career option for our graduates and highlighted the competitive edge that law graduates have over the candidates from other disciplines in the civil service.
However, he was critical of the fact that today’s university students are focusing more on preparing for the BCS exam from the early days of their university years rather than gaining knowledge from their own disciplines. He propounded that this is a wrong approach as the students miss out on gaining substantive knowledge and insights from their respective disciplines, something which would add value to their career in the civil service in the future.