Asian Languages Careers Week
2026 Report
From April 21st to 23rd, Monash Korean Studies co-hosted the second Asian Languages Careers Week with Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian studies, with the support of Monash Alumni. Throughout the week, we hosted a series of events designed to provide students with insightful career advice and to highlight opportunities connected to their language studies.
To officially open the event, we were honored to have Associate Professor Vicki Peel (Deputy Head of the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics) deliver the welcome address.
Session 1: Monash Alumni Talk (Opening Event)
In session 1, we were delighted to hear from our alumni, who shared their internship and professional experiences. We hope their insights provided students with valuable perspectives on job seeking, the importance of language skills in the workplace and building a professional network.
Invited speakers:
Sandy Nguyen (Hub Coordinator at Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub)
Kyle Han-Menz (Management Accountant at Hanwha Defence Australia)
Lionel Diao (Senior Advisor in Communication for the Liberal Party of Australia)
View the recording here:
Session 2: Studying and Working Abroad
In session 2, we had the pleasure of hearing from a representative of Monash Abroad, alongside current students and graduates who shared their personal experiences of studying and working overseas. Through this session, we hope students gained a clearer understanding of the study abroad application process, as well as useful tips and advice from the speakers about studying/work abroad.
Invited speakers:
Ewan Smith (International Education Coordinator at Monash Abroad)
Eva Richards (Current PhD student at Monash Korean Studies)
Miriam (Archana) Ceraman (Monash Japanese Studies alumni)
Layne Lay (Current Monash Japanese studies student)
View the recording here:
Session 3: Career Pathways and Job Seeking
To conclude the event, the final session focused on career pathways and job seeking. We were honored to hear from representatives of local companies and our alumni, who shared their career journeys along with practical advice on navigating the job market. We hope this helped students explore career opportunities related to their language studies and better understand the qualities employers are looking for.
Invited speakers:
Mr Mitsuru Katada (Workforce Solutions Consultant at PERSOL)
Dory Wang (Senior Digital Producer, Learn English Audio & Language Content at SBS Australia)
Julia Kim (Marketing / Customer Service Representative at Atomy Oceania Pty Ltd)
Jess Waugh (Japanese Teacher, Canterbury Girls Secondary College)
View the recording here:
The event was a great success, attracting an impressive turnout with strong participation both in person and online (a total attendance of 130 attendees). Students made excellent use of the networking session, engaging with speakers to ask questions and seek advice on their academic and career pathways.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Chinese studies, Japanese studies, Indonesian studies, Monash Alumni and Monash Abroad for their continued support and collaboration in delivering another successful event. Monash Alumni also generously contributed gifts for our alumni and invited speakers. We look forward to working together again on another successful event next year!
Event poster:
2025 Report
From April 8th to April 10th 2025, Monash Korean Studies organised our first ever Asian Languages Careers Week. This is a collaboration between Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian studies which involves a series of small events to provide our students with helpful career advice and highlighting opportunities to work in areas related to their language studies (in Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian). There were a total of three hybrid sessions focusing on the following themes:
Session 1: Opening Event - Monash Alumni Talk
Monash Arts Alumni sharing their experiences of working in companies (in Australia) related to the language (Korean/Chinese/Japanese/Indonesian) they have studied/majored in.
Session 2: Studying and Working Abroad
How to study abroad (application process), graduates and current students sharing their experiences of studying/working abroad (in Korea/China/Japan).
Session 3: Career and Job Opportunities
Tips on how to apply and seek job opportunities/internships (Monash MIT). Inviting representatives from local (Korean/Chinese/Japanese) companies who have potential job opportunities that they want to advertise to students? What do companies look for when seeking employees (e.g. How important is language skills and cultural understanding)?
The first half of the session was short 5-minute presentations from the guest speakers who were Monash Alumni who majored in one of the four Language Studies, current students with studying abroad experiences, and representatives from local companies. In the second half of the session, students had the opportunity to chat with the guest speakers during mingle time.
The event received an impressive turnout in attendance with a total of roughly 60 students at each session (total attendance of 186 participants). There were lots of positive responses from students who found this a valuable experience for them to gain inspirations from a great range of guest speakers who shared highly informative presentations about their work and/or study experiences. We would like to extend our thanks to Chinese studies, Japanese studies, Indonesian studies, Monash Alumni, LLCL, Monash Abroad and Monash Industry Team (MIT) for making this collaboration and the event a huge success. Monash Alumni supported the event with generous gifts for our alumni guest speakers, catering and professional photography services. We also like to send our thanks to the Korean Education Centre in Sydney for supporting our Study Abroad session with snacks and a variety of study abroad materials for students to take home. We look forward to another collaboration with everyone in the near future!
Session 1 - (Opening Session) Monash Alumni Talk
Speakers:
Opening speech by Prof. Jo Winning [Head of School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics]
Niha Sathasivam [Korean Studies Graduate]
Xenia Sanut [Japanese Studies Graduate]
Annie Mao [Japanese Studies Graduate]
Andrew Rundong Min [Chinese Studies guest speaker]
Lionel Diao [Chinese Studies Graduate]
Yu-Shin Tan [Indonesian Studies Student]
View the session here:
Session 2 - Studying and Working Abroad
Speakers:
Ewan Smith [Monash Abroad representative]
Danae Smith [Korean Studies Graduate]
Miriam (Archan) Ceraman [Japanese Studies Graduate]
Gil Roseby [Chinese Studies Graduate]
An Nguyen [Chinese Studies Graduate]
Eleena Chang [Korean Studies Graduate]
Abigail Ik-Wen Yong [Korean Studies Graduate]
Matthew Nguyen [Korean Studies Student]
View the session here:
Session 3 - Career and Job Opportunities
Speakers:
Mitsuru Katada [Business Development Manager at Persolkelly]
Mo Lin [Chinese Studies Graduate & Special Broadcasting Service (Mandarin SBS) Journalist]
Katrina Lin [Chinese Studies Graduate & Manager of Tourism & Premium Visitation, Museums]
Louise Hoyos Ocampo [Monash MIT representative]
View the session here:
Event poster:
The 2025 Asian Languages Careers Week was supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS Core Grant 2.0).