Hundreds of students attend DMU's biggest-ever careers fair

Hundreds of students have met prospective employers on the first day of De Montfort University Leicester’s (DMU)’s biggest-ever careers fair.



The event began yesterday in The Venue@DMU with big names including New Look, NHS, George, JCB and Vodafone all looking to recruit their stars of the future.

A steady stream of students were visiting throughout the day, chatting to representatives and finding out the inside tips on how to land jobs in today’s hugely competitive jobs market.

Today’s event takes place from 11am to 3pm with even more global companies set to arrive, including HSBC and the Government.

Audrey Kona, a Fashion Buying with Design student, made a beeline for New Look to inquire about working for the company.

Audrey, who is passionate about visual merchandising, said: “It can be a hard process because there’s so many applicants chasing places in fashion. I know the brand and I’m comfortable with it and they were able to give me advice on what they look for and how to stand out.”

Rachel Thompson, online recruitment manager for George at Asda, said her top tip for job hunters would be LinkedIn.

She said: “That would be my best advice. Get a LinkedIn profile and look at the people who work in the industries you are interested in.

“Start interacting with people in business, send emails, take part in talks and build relationships.”

Rosie Helps is a student from Newcastle University who is four months into an internship with George, based in Lutterworth.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I studied business management, but I have loved working for George,” she said. “it’s given me an insight into merchandising that I just would not have had otherwise.”

Katherine Brewster and Isabelle Hammond were from IT consultancy FDM Group. The company provides professional services for companies such as British Airways, investment banks and Virgin.

Katherine said they had had lots of interest from DMU students interested in IT consultancy as a career. She said: “We have met lots of students and more than 50 have registered an interest.

“It’s a career which applies to many degrees and we run a graduate programme which trains people to work for some of the biggest companies in the world.”

Stuart Marriott said: “This is the largest event we have run here and it has been very successful. There’s a really good mix of companies here, all of whom are keen to meet and talk to our students.”