Eastern Group has been focusing on new media and new retail, and has been building its long term reach across the global market. In recent years, in cooperation with the government’s New Southbound Policy, it has expanded its International Elite Talent Development Program and engaged in in-depth dialog with universities in the hopes of bringing new blood into the company through industry-academia cooperation. Furthermore, it will also help young people with great potential to get a foot in the door early and add to their resumes. A cooperation agreement with Shih Hsin University was signed on the morning of September 25th. It is estimated that 30 job vacancies will be provided each year to students or graduates of Shih Hsin University. The first stage is aimed at the development of international elite talents, while the first batch of selected candidates will also officially enter Eastern Group for internships in early October.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, there are currently 28,000 overseas students from China, Hong Kong, and Macao altogether studying in Taiwan. International students understand their own countries and have the ability to communicate in their mother tongues. They are also familiar with Taiwanese culture and have built up interpersonal relationships while studying in Taiwan. As a result, systematic industry-academia cooperation will help to cultivate overseas talents in advance to satisfy future demands. Therefore, Eastern Group’s ETWarm, Eastern Natural Beauty, and ETtoday, have recently been recruiting talents from Shih Hsin University. Ten international students have already been interviewed in the first stage, and the successful candidates will begin their internships in early October. In the future, the second and third batch of internship/student training program and industry-academia cooperation will also be launched. Wu Yeong-chyan, president of Shih Hsin University, said that Eastern Group’s diversified operation comes with globalization possibilities, which can provide a high-quality employment platform for students in the future. This is an especially excellent development opportunity for Malaysian, Hong Kong and Macao international students.
At the signing ceremony, ETtoday interviewed three students from Shih Hsin University who had participated in the interview, and they expressed their excitement and aspirations to join the Eastern family. Among them, Liu Xueer from Malaysia, who is currently in her third year of studies, has decided to accept the internship with ETtoday. She will have the opportunity to be on the front-line of field reporting to apply what she has learned. Regarding this, Liu Xueer said: “Eastern is a large-scale enterprise, so this will add to my future resume. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to intern in ETtoday and I look forward to learning different practical lessons related to the job which will be different from what I learned in class, in order to increase my experience and enhance my competitive skills for the workforce.”
In addition, Chen Yongjie from Kuala Lumpur who also participated in the selection, said that if she has the opportunity to join the Eastern Group, she hopes to stay in Taiwan to work and accumulate work experience in large corporations. If there is an opportunity in the future, she would like to take her knowledge and experiences back home. Yu Yuting from Johor is hoping to enter ETwarm to get more exposure to methods that combine broadcasting and real estate, such as learning about marketing and community management practices. If there is an opportunity in the future, Yu would like to return to the ETwarm branch office in his hometown in Malaysia.
Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group, said : In view of the fact that the largest community cloud user groups are young people, it is necessary to learn how to communicate with young people in new media or new retail businesses. Through industry-academia cooperation, it allows the industry to absorb young people’s ideas and needs as early as possible. In addition, industry-academia cooperation does not only teach students according to their aptitude, but also gives students room to realize their potential. We believe that a win-win situation for schools, students, and enterprises can be established.
Eastern Group has been providing students with student part time work opportunities for many years. University students in their third or fourth year use their spare time to work as assistant editors at ETtoday, or assist onsite at the ETMall shopping program, or serve as administrative assistants in the various companies. Furthermore, Eastern Group has a comprehensive talent fostering plan in place. Those who perform excellently in their student part time positions during their studies will have an opportunity to be recruited directly after graduation and become a full-time employee. In addition, as they have become familiar with the field of work one to two years earlier than ordinary graduate job seekers, they often display more outstanding performances.
At the end of 2019, Eastern Group estimated that their total number of employees would exceed 5,200, and the group hopes to continue attracting outstanding talent with high salaries. The hourly wage of student trainees also has the potential to be raised to NT$250, so getting paid NT$44,000 per month will no longer be a dream in the future. President Gary Wang of Eastern, who has long participated in public welfare and caring for the disadvantaged, has also given special instructions. In addition to the first stage of international talent recruitment and development, the next step is to continue to help students from poor and disadvantaged families, giving them the opportunity to join the Eastern family and reduce the burden of student loans on the young people. They can work hard together with Eastern to earn an income and lead a better life.