Alumni Interview

Q: What kind of work are you doing?

A: Hello, I’m Cho So-jung, a class of 14 in the consumer science major. After graduation, I am an analyst in charge of household consumer goods in the corporate analysis team of Kiwoom Securities Research Center. My main task as a securities firm analyst is to evaluate the value of a company, and it is important to analyze the current status of the industry and corporation and predict prospects. In particular, because industry prospects or corporate value of household consumer goods industry such as cosmetics and clothing can change depending on consumer’s preferences and consumer culture, it is important to analyze the impact of consumer choice on the industry and corporate outlook.

Q: How has consumer science helped you perform your current job?

A: Various theories that I learned in classes and activities like consumer symposiums and consumer seminar are helping me to develop my analytical capabilities as a securities analyst. Our rapidly changing society will want talented people who can actively respond to changes in the future. Consumer science, which is closely connected to real life, is an academic field that helps us develop an attitude to see the market more flexibly and the ability to explain a phenomenon needed for such future talent logically.
Cho Seo-jeong
Kiwoom Securities Research Center Corporate Analysis Team
Q: What are the advantages of your current job as a person who majored in consumer science?

A: Hello, I’m Kim Yena. I graduated from the department of consumer science in 2015 and doing advertising consulting at Google now. Starting with discovering insights into consumers and markets, I am conducting consulting about which messages to deliver, how to deliver those messages, and to whom to deliver those. At the beginning of my career, I received a lot of positive attention and questions about consumer science, which is my major, especially as consumer-centered management and customer experience (CX) become more important. I think the competitiveness of the department of consumer science is being reinforced. As consumption is an act that appears in our daily lives, I think there are many fields where we can fuse and expand our careers based on a perspective of consumer science.

Q: What kind of experience do you think is essential to experience in college?

A: When I look back on my undergraduate days, I remember having fun in class with a lot of sympathies, thinking about consumer behavior, consumption trends, consumer issues, and policies that I encounter in real life as a consumer. In addition, the process of writing graduation papers, including making actual hypotheses and designing surveys, was a meaningful experience that students from other departments could not easily experience. It also remains as a good memory to participate in competitions or projects through classes and win the grand prize at the consumer education contents contest held by the Korea Consumer Agency(KCA) and Fair Trade Commission(FTC), and conducting education for the financial vulnerable consumer at the rural village hall.
Kim Yena
Google Advertising Consulting Work