Press Releases
Employers queue up to recruit University graduates – University of Reading
Release Date : 20 October 2009
An oversubscribed Autumn Careers and Placement Fair will bring a cheering employment message for University of Reading students and graduates next week.
The annual autumn Careers Fair, which this year takes place on Wednesday 28 October, has a waiting list of employers wishing to attend, with nearly 70 being represented on the day. On offer will be graduate vacancies, placements, summer internships, work experience and volunteering opportunities as well as gap year organisations and postgraduate course providers.
Carey Widdows, Director of the Careers Advisory Service at the University of Reading said: "We are working very hard to ensure our graduates have the widest opportunities in the job market. The University has recently been ranked as the 146th best university on the planet from which to recruit¹ and the excellent employer attendance at the autumn careers fair, despite the recession, demonstrates the attractiveness of our graduates in the job market."
The list of employers attending covers areas such as food, engineering, computer science, agriculture and business, with names such as the Met Office, NHS, BMW, Lidl, IBM, Sainsbury's, Mars and the Civil Service Fast Stream, as well as a number of local employers.
Students from all year groups and degree disciplines will be attending and first year and second year students are being advised of the importance of developing their career plans and work experience early on in their university studies. Local graduates in the area are also welcome to attend this national event.
The University will also be launching a Virtual Careers Fair, which will be online for two weeks from 29 October at www.reading.ac.uk/careers
The Autumn Careers and Placement Fair takes place on Wednesday 28 October from 11am until 3pm in the Palmer Building, Whiteknights campus. For a full list of exhibitors please visit
>http://www.reading.ac.uk/careers/events/event.asp?id=788
ENDS
Further information from Alex Brannen, Media Relations Manager, on 0118 378 7388
Notes to editors:
¹ As part of the THE – QS World University Rankings 2009, the Employer Survey ranked the University 146th in the world. Over 2000 recruiters of graduates across the globe were asked from which universities they like to recruit. The employers sample included a wide range of businesses.
Examples of :-
University of Reading careers support
• Preparing students for life – the Careers Management Skills programme is embedded in the university and is compulsory. It is the only comprehensive, compulsory and credit bearing programme run at a UK higher education institution. (taken in 2nd year). The programme involves self awareness, looking at job opportunities and preparing resources such as CVs.
• New seminars addressing a new style of graduate recruitment - shift towards hiring directly from internships thus making work experience and extra curricular responsibilities essential to gain core skills and awareness.
• Course specific sessions for Finalists on the 'Coping with the recession' and 'Where the jobs are in the credit crunch'.
• Internships are being promoted and further developments of the 11 work experience schemes, including SEED, the Summer Enterprise Experience & Discovery scheme.
• Dedicated support from Careers Adviser for their subject area for final year students. Via email / personal appointments or through FACEBOOK site
• Dedicated website for careers tools – www.reading.ac.uk/destinations-demo
Post graduation
• "Reading Graduate Leap Pad" - designed to help graduates build and articulate job related skills and navigate the graduate job market. Life time guarantee of careers advice for Reading graduates.
• Helping retrain people changing careers to become teachers in maths, chemistry, French and physics through the free and bursary-supported ITT Subject Knowledge Enhancement Courses.
• Appointments for graduates of other universities living nearby
• New publication, First Move South East, advertising opportunities with small and medium sized enterprises in the region.
Details of the schemes University of Reading and RUSU are running to support student employability can be found at -
>www.reading.ac.uk/careers/jobs/experienceworks.pdf