October 17, 2014, by James Jupe

Here, There and Everywhere! You Won’t Want to Miss Our Recruitment Fairs

By Pablo Costa, Careers Adviser

It would be fair to say that we have more than our fair share of fairs happening this term.  To avoid paying a heavy fare, companies are keen that they will need to attend our recruitment fairs this semester.

And why wouldn’t they? We are the most popular university among top graduate recruiters according to the High Fliers Research The Graduate Market in 2014.  This term we will have more than 450 exhibitors on campus at our recruitment fairs.

Here are just some of the many ways that you can benefit from meeting with graduate recruiters.

• Recruitment events are essentially networking opportunities. When you meet company representatives and you’ve struck a rapport with them, you may want to continue the conversation after the event and ask them more questions. They will respect your enthusiasm and interest!

• Company culture and ways of working often differ quite dramatically. Meeting employers will give you an introduction to what it would be like to work for an organisation. Consider the formalities and dress code, hours of work, or perhaps the way in which you will address your manager in person or by email.

• It’s also a great opportunity to look at the different industries on offer. If you’re an engineer, for instance, you may specialise in energy, automotive, construction, rail or aviation and think that’s your limit. Not so! You’ll be surprised by how often students who are only interested in one sector are suddenly attracted to others.

• You can discover the different pathways open to you within a particular career area. For example, at our Careers in Nursing Fair you can discover just how many pathways are open to you. Whether you want to specialise in offender health, paediatrics or work in the Royal Navy, explore all of your options to find your perfect role.

• Whatever your interest, raising your commercial awareness is essential. You need to stay up to date with the latest news and developments about your company of interest and sector through newspapers, journals and websites. It’s a great time to show off the research that you have done on them – they’ll be impressed, I assure you! Then you can use the event to get the answers to the questions that you’ve been wanting to ask.

• It’s not just about your degree. Impressing a recruiter with how you come across will make them remember you. You never know, it may well be the person you meet at a careers fair that will be interviewing you or trying to promote the idea of recruiting you to senior management.

• Talking to a recruiter will give you a better indication of the person they are looking to join them. They are also often accompanied by recent graduates who can give you an insight into why they joined the company and their experiences so far.

So, in all fairness, it really does pay to attend one of our fairs and we have a fair few this term including law, nursing, engineering, science, internships and computing. Have a look at our recruitment fair calendar and come along. Fair enough!

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