Top employers from around the country have joined graduates from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to brainstorm new ways of giving students the best chance of landing their perfect career.
At the ‘Great Ideas for Student Employability Conference’, DMU’s dedicated careers and employability team explored their current initiatives and introduced employers they are currently working with and who are recruiting students on a frequent basis.
The university was rated number one for graduate employability by the Times Higher Education Magazine last year and also featured in the top three for teaching excellence in a preliminary study ahead of the TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework).
But the team is always looking for ways to extend its network of employer contacts and draw on the advice from successful graduates.
Richard Bowden, Employer Relationship Manager at DMU has been leading DMU’s current Employer Engagement Strategy which aims to link DMU with top employers to develop clear pathways for student employment.
Offering graduate level jobs for students is something that the team pride itself on and Richard spoke about how his team are contacting employers that they already have strong relationships with to ensure further opportunities for students with those employers.
This strategy has been successful as employers continue to come back to us to recruit students, crediting the impact they are having in the workplace.
Richard said: “As soon as the offer came to be involved in this mini-conference, I jumped at the opportunity.
“It is a fantastic opportunity to tell colleagues from across the university what we do and how we build relationships.
“It’s great to see graduates here today, to offer their perspectives and to have some of our top student employers here to highlight how they work with our students.”
One of DMU’s current top employers is Enterprise Rent-A-Car which over the years has taken many graduates on and has helped them thrive in the workplace.
One of those is Harvinda Pamma who graduated from DMU’s Accounting and Finance BA (Hons) degree back in 2004.
He said: “My advice to current students is to make sure you give yourself plenty of opportunities and keep your options open to suggestions and use DMU to give you that broader sight.”
The 32-year-old changed his career path on numerous occasions over the years to get to where he is today.
Working at Thornton’s for two years he then went on to do a PGC in Mathematics at the University of Nottingham before going into teaching.
After teaching for two years, he decided to go for a graduate scheme at Enterprise Rent-a-Car where he has now been for four and a half years, working his way up to a Branch Manager in Leicester.
Harvinda said: “I am so impressed with the employment team at DMU and how employability is embedded into the curriculum.
“I am interested to see how today’s employer engagement initiatives will benefit DMU’s new graduates who I could well be working alongside in the years to come.”
Posted on Wednesday 7 June 2017