2025-1 Special Lectures: Financial Planning, Real Estate Practices, and AI Career Outlook: Economics Alumni and Industry Experts Analyze Future Workplace Trends and Real-World Practices

During the first semester of the 2025 academic year, the Department of Economics organized three lectures featuring industry professionals and alumni. Senior Manager Wei-Kang Chang of E.SUN Bank's Hualien Branch, alumnus Kuo-Hsuan Yuan, and alumnus Chia-Ching Wang shared their practical experiences from different industries. Drawing on their professional expertise and personal experiences in areas including financial planning, real estate operations, and applications of artificial intelligence, the speakers offered insights to help students plan their careers more effectively, stay informed about the latest industry trends, and reflect on their future development through the professional experiences and perspectives of experts from various fields.

The first lecture, held on October 17, 2025, featured Senior Manager Wei-Kang Chang and Deputy Manager Liu of E.SUN Bank's Hualien Branch, who gave a presentation entitled “An Introduction to Personal Banking and Wealth Management at E.SUN Bank.” The talk focused on personal finance concepts, the selection of financial planning tools, and wealth management strategies. The speakers first introduced E.SUN Bank's range of business operations, including its increasingly mature overseas markets. Deputy Manager Liu then introduced the financial services provided by E.SUN Bank, including deposits, personal loans, investments, insurance, and digital financial tools. Using practical cases, the speaker explained common financial issues faced by young people and emphasized that the core principles of financial planning are to “plan early, diversify risk, and live within your means.” Through practical cases and the workplace experiences shared by alumni, students gained a deeper understanding of careers and working life in the banking industry.

The second lecture was held on November 21, 2025. Alumnus Kuo-Hsuan Yuan, Senior Manager of the Sales Department at Hai Ju Development under Hai Yue Group, who has more than ten years of experience in real estate project sales, gave a talk entitled “Reflections on Working in Real Estate Project Sales Outside My Field of Study.” He shared insights into the property development sales process and industry practices. Beginning with his own career journey, the speaker explained that the core responsibilities of real estate project sales include market analysis, product positioning, customer reception, and sales strategies. He also explained the differences between project sales and real estate brokerage in terms of target clients, regional characteristics, types of properties, project scale, customer profiles, planning processes, sales methods, and working models. Alumnus Yuan emphasized that professionals in the project sales industry need patience, strong communication skills, and sensitivity to market trends, along with an active and enthusiastic attitude and a willingness to devote themselves to their work. The ability to think independently, identify problems, and solve them is equally important. His talk helped students better understand how the real estate industry operates, the professional certifications required, and the personal qualities needed for the field. Finally, with the message, “Life is a journey with no return, so we should experience and try as much as we can,” he encouraged students not to fear the unknown, to have the courage to embrace challenges, to prepare themselves well, and to give their best so that they will have no regrets.

The third lecture was held on November 28, 2025, featuring alumnus Chia-Ching Wang, former Vice President of Google Taiwan, who delivered a special lecture entitled “The Present and Future of AI from a Career Planning Perspective.” The speaker pointed out that automation and artificial intelligence are transforming industries across the board, but the value of AI lies in improving efficiency rather than replacing human thinking. He reminded students that they still need analytical and comprehension skills, interdisciplinary integration abilities, interpersonal and leadership skills, and the ability to work effectively with AI in order to enhance their own value. When using AI, users must carefully evaluate every response it provides and learn how to define, think through, and break down problems. How to collaborate with artificial intelligence to solve complex problems and redesign workflows is also an important challenge facing today's new entrants to the workforce. The speaker further shared his view that, in today's workplace, breadth of learning is more important than depth. He therefore encouraged students not only to acquire knowledge but also to learn how to learn and to identify underlying logic across diverse fields of knowledge. Finally, he emphasized that AI is an assistive tool and should not be relied upon completely. He encouraged students to develop AI literacy and independent learning abilities, move beyond their existing fields of study, and recognize that the best career strategy is to learn how to collaborate with AI—using it to improve work efficiency rather than allowing themselves to be replaced by it.

Through these three lectures on different topics this semester, speakers from various professional fields shared their experiences, enabling students not only to gain a better understanding of the conditions and development trends in different industries, but also to reflect on and strengthen their own abilities. The lectures provided valuable guidance and reference for students as they plan their future careers.