5 reasons you should absolutely attend a virtual careers fair this year
Yep, that includes you too, first years…
We get it, you’ve got lots on during your first few weeks of term — making new friends and catching up with old ones, getting ahead on your coursework, joining societies, and generally just settling back into campus life. So why should attending a careers fair be high on your agenda, especially if you’ve not even thought about your career plans yet?
You may find it surprising, but Autumn is a crucial time in the recruitment calendar for many graduate employers — whether that’s recruiting for summer internships or placements for first and intermediate year students, or for graduate schemes aimed at our final year students and recent graduates. So it might not be on your mind just yet, but it's certainly on an employer’s.
Even so, why bother with career fairs when you can just do some research and apply online? Well, there’s a lot more to them than meets the eye — here are just five of our top reasons you should make our career fairs a priority…
It opens up a world of opportunities you didn’t realise were on offer
Perhaps you had a particular career in mind or you’re still not sure what you want to do/can do with your degree. By attending a careers fair, you hear about a huge range of opportunities available to you that you didn’t even know existed.
Attending a fair in your first or second year will give you time to research internship and placement opportunities before the recruitment phase — opportunities that are crucial for gaining real-world experience and helping you to better understand what you enjoy, find out more about the organisation, and decide whether it’s the right fit for you. By speaking to employers at the fair, you’ll also hear first-hand what it’s like to work in that industry/organisation.
More than 9 out of 10 students who have work experience or completed an internship placement found graduate-level employment. — Based on the 2017/18 Graduate Outcomes Survey
Employers that exhibit at career fairs have targeted that particular university to recruit students for opportunities that are coming up, so you’ll get to learn about current or upcoming vacancies that aren’t yet in the public domain. Our fairs platform, Careers Connect also provides a job board that will highlight which roles are available by the employers exhibiting at the fair.
The power of networking
Whether you’re a natural or it fills you with dread, networking is an important element to improving your chances of success, and virtual career fairs will help you to network with key contacts from various companies in a short space of time.
It’s a great opportunity for you to start building key connections without the pressure of a formal job interview. Unlike our on-campus fairs, where you can sometimes struggle to have a proper conversation with employers due to their hustle-and-bustle nature, our virtual fairs will allow you to book a slot with an employer so that you can have a meaningful conversation and build connections ahead of the application process — thus building your confidence and focus about your career plans and the application process.
You can attend from anywhere, whilst connecting with employers all over the world
By attending a virtual fair, you can speak to prospective employers from a range of sectors and industries without ever having to leave the house.
This is an unmissable opportunity to meet recruiters one-on-one in an informal environment — traditionally, you wouldn’t get this opportunity unless you’ve made it to the interview room.
What’s more, the virtual setting provides you with the opportunity to speak to employers from all across the globe, opening up a world of new and exciting opportunities you perhaps hadn’t considered before.
You’ll access crucial recruitment secrets
Aside from the networking advantages, meeting employers in this setting provides a great opportunity to hear about key recruitment details straight from the horse's mouth. This includes what to expect at each stage as well as what they’re looking out for in candidates —crucial intel to support your success in the application process and something you won’t get from just doing online research.
It’s a really efficient (and free) use of your time
Researching opportunities and career options can be incredibly time-consuming, especially with the amount of information that’s out there — this can be particularly unhelpful when you start doing this during exam season. By attending a fair, you get to do this research quickly, freely, and efficiently for various companies.
To find out more about our virtual career fairs, make sure you visit our website and we hope to see you at the fairs!
