Leicester Careers Fair: For Everyone!

The Autumn careers fair has rolled around and finished once again; the marquee is being slowly emptied out and I suspect that it will be coming down soon…to make room for the Christmas fair, eek. But today I wanted to write a short post about non-final years in relation to the careers fair. There’s a huge misconception that the careers fair is purely an event set up for final year students, and that the careers fair is simply not applicable to anyone else; however, as a second year, I would like to counter this point, and potentially persuade you to attend a Leicester Careers Fair in the future, regardless of what stage of university you are in. Here is just my top three reasons for getting involved with the events on offer!

1. It’s Good Practise: 

Chances are most of you are not completely set on a specific career path, so it’s always a good idea to have a look around, and research. By attending these careers events you give yourself the opportunity to look at the career options available to you. Different working sectors such as Law and Engineering are split onto different days, so you can go to the days you feel are most applicable to you, in order to tailor your experience. This means you’ll know what you’re looking for when you go back to the fairs the following year; it’s like a practise run.

2.  Networking:

Along with exploring, and eventually homing in on your career path, the fairs give you the chance to make connections with employers, similar to that of final year students, but you’ll be getting in there early. By making a good impression early on, this can only increase your chances of a job (if that’s the path you wish to pursue) following graduation, and perhaps even give you links to other employers following conversations with an employer at the fair. It’s always worth trying!

3. It’s Not All Graduate Careers:

As with most career fairs here at Leicester, one of the days was dedicated to ‘Getting Experience’ as opposed to finding a career. This day allows all students to look around for various types of experience, including working and studying abroad, volunteering, part-time work, and even some information about entrepreneurship. So whether you’re a fresher or somewhere in the middle of your university life, it’s never a bad idea to grab hold of some experience; a good, and full, CV issue crucial upon graduation.

So, hopefully in some ways, you can see just why it’s worthwhile attending the careers fairs throughout your time  at university. And in all honesty, why not give it a go, it’s free! The next careers fair will be around March of 2018, and I hope to see some of you there.

Speak to You All Soon, Take Care Everyone!