A business card can look old-fashioned beside LinkedIn, QR codes and digital portfolios. Yet Douglas College’s July 31 DIY Business Cards activity offers international students a useful lesson: careers often begin with a human conversation. Sitting in the Career Centre, choosing a name, role and contact detail for a card may feel like a craft project, but it asks a bigger question: how do you want someone to remember you? For a newcomer translating classroom confidence into workplace English, that question can turn an afternoon on campus into the first rehearsal for a career.
The card is not a magic ticket to employment. Its value appears when a student hands it to a guest speaker, a classmate with a project or an employer at a networking event. Suddenly, “Nice to meet you” has somewhere to go next. Douglas students can use Career Centre advising, workshops, CareerHUB job postings and co-op support to build. From an education adviser’s perspective, this is where student life and career preparation should meet: practise an introduction, improve your résumé, learn workplace manners and collect examples of teamwork before graduation arrives.
For international students, the plan is not to wait until the final semester before thinking about work. Start small and start early. Attend one workshop, speak to one adviser, join one campus activity and follow up with a new contact. Keep your study-permit conditions and work eligibility separate from career planning, because a polished card does not create legal authorization to work. It can, however, create confidence, visibility and a reason to continue a conversation. A Canadian education becomes more valuable when academic knowledge is paired with relationships and practical experience. Sometimes the first professional door does not open with a grand speech; it opens with your name, a smile and one thoughtfully designed card.
