On October 23, 2024, GraSPP hosted a career seminar jointly with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to help students pursue internship and career opportunities at OECD. Following the welcome remarks by Prof. Toshiro Nishizawa, Ms. Josée Touchette, Director of the Executive Directorate Management and People Analytics Group, gave an introduction to the OECD, and Ms. Kate Cornford, Counsellor to the Executive Director of Management Services, provided guidance on internship and career opportunities, and selection process. Participating students actively sought further information and asked questions.
GraSPP has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with OECD to facilitate students’ applications for internship opportunities and encourage alumni to pursue career opportunities at OECD. Two students who applied for internship positions while enrolled in GraSPP have been selected as interns at OECD’s Headquarters in the past two years.
Before the seminar, Dean Daiji Kawaguchi exchanged views with Ms. Touchette about how to address the public policy challenges facing our society and discussed ways to strengthen the partnership with OECD based on the MOU. Dean Kawaguchi appreciated a representative from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs joining the seminar for its support of GraSPP’s partnership with the OECD.
Voices of the student participants
“The OECD career seminar allowed us to hear the insightful advice of Director Touchette and Counsellor Cornford. They introduced the OECD and its activities and talked about the kind of interns they are looking for. It was valuable to determine whether we would be a good fit and what skills to put forward during our application. For us graduate students, exchanging with OECD representatives was also meaningful in that it could help us refine or expand our professional aspirations. I also had the chance to listen to the exchange between Dean Daiji Kawaguchi and the two OECD representatives, which was fascinating and showed both sides’ commitment to gender equality. Overall, I found the OECD career seminar very helpful and highly recommend it to students looking for internships.”
“It was a pleasure to welcome Executive Director Touchette and Counsellor Cornford to GraSPP and attend their presentation on OECD research and standards promoting socio-economic well-being worldwide. I was impressed by the true scale of OECD’s efforts, which served as a forum and knowledge hub for policy areas ranging from AI to agriculture. I was also struck by the parallels between our public policy school and OECD, inviting voices from diverse cultural, academic, and industry backgrounds to exchange perspectives, conduct cutting-edge research, and collaborate on developing solutions that work for specific policy contexts. Going forward, I hope to see more GraSPPers have the opportunity to join OECD and contribute their unique interdisciplinary and intercultural knowledge to support effective, intelligent policymaking tailored to local and global realities.”
Job opportunities at OECD
https://www.oecd.org/en/about/careers.html
About OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation comprised of 38 member countries that work to build better policies for better lives. OECD’s mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Together with governments, policymakers and citizens, OECD works on establishing evidence-based international standards and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges. From improving economic performance and creating jobs to fostering strong education and fighting international tax evasion, OECD provides a unique forum and knowledge hub for data and analysis, exchange of experiences, best-practice sharing, and advice on public policies and international standard-setting.