June 16, 2015, by Mary Strickson
How I Discovered New Career Opportunities
By Mary Strickson, student blogger
Last week I attended the Graduate Jobs Fair organised by The Careers and Employability Service. I wasn’t sure what to expect, for example, I didn’t think there would be many arts-based opportunities on offer. However at the fair, I discovered that my degree opens opportunities in many career paths and sectors, which I had not thought of pursuing before.
Opportunities for 2015 and 2016 graduates
As I am currently finishing the first year of my part-time postgraduate degree, I thought the fair might be limited to what it could offer me as a non-finalist student (I am not graduating until 2016). I could not have been more wrong! As well as offering vacancies for 2015, they were also opportunities on offer for 2016, with applications opening this September and October, for a 2016 September/ October start. I could not have timed my visit more perfectly!
It wasn’t all about graduate jobs
I also encountered many short-term placements and work experience opportunities. These ranged from four-week voluntary schemes to 12-week paid placements. These short placements would be perfect for me or a first/ second year student to complete during the summer to build up experience.
There were many employers and companies present at the event. Here is a small summary of who I spoke to, what they were offering and the advice they gave:
- Picsolve take photographs at theme parks and entertainment venues. They were offering roles in marketing, management, retail, sales and more!
- Cognolink, an accounting and finance company, were offering a variety of roles within this sector.
- Mars were offering graduate placements in management, sales, human resources (HR) and marketing.
- Atos, an IT corporation, told me about their HR and sales opportunities.
- CEB, an advisory service, were offering roles that involve working with their executives to give graduates the best training and advice.
- Accenture were offering graduate schemes designed for any degree subject including technology and digital.
- GSK were offering internships starting in September 2016 with applications opening in October 2015. They told me that you don’t need a specific degree to apply.
- Explore Learning were offering graduate opportunities in marketing and sales.
- Robert Half, an accountancy and finance company, were offering recruitment roles. They advised me to research their company and job sector before I applied for one of their roles and contact them if I wanted to learn more.
- The University of Nottingham were advertising permanent jobs and said I should check their webpages to find out about new vacancies.
- Nottingham Internships Scheme, which is run by the Careers team, offer summer internships to students and graduates with companies across Nottingham. This is ideal for me as I don’t want to move away and their applications open in March 2016.
- Games Workshop is based only a mile away from campus, meaning I could work locally. Their jobs range from artists and designers to retail and sales.
- Ransomes Jacobsen were offering marketing opportunities but are based in Ipswich so probably a bit far for me.
Overall, the fair was very informative
By the end of the day, my bag was bursting with flyers and leaflets from companies I had not heard of before and would not have encountered if I hadn’t visited the fair. I didn’t know what career I wanted before the fair so I entered with an open mind and it paid off. It really opened up my options and I left with lots to think about and many new career ideas!
If you missed the Graduate Jobs Fair and are a final year student, then don’t panic, you can find the latest graduate jobs and opportunities on My Career or join our Jobs by email mailing list to receive all the latest vacancies. Or if you’re a first or second year student, make sure you keep an eye out for our autumn and spring term fairs.
Also, you can always book an appointment with our expert team to discuss any job related issues you may have.
I attended a jobs fair in my city a few years back and it wasn’t what I expected at all, although it wasn’t what I expected I managed to get work experience out of it and a reference. Job fairs are very useful for job opportunities and work placements.