Managing a successful Careers Event : After the rain comes the rainbow!

Three weeks ago I executed my biggest event as an Events Management Placement Student in the Careers and Employability Service at the University of Huddersfield. I started my placement in June 2012 and before that I’ve been attending, taking part and working on different small and big scale events around campus. This was crucial for my understanding in events and certainly provided me with a lot of experience but none of them gave me such experience as the Grad Jobs Fair. For most people (students, employers and staff) this event was another event added on their calendar, but for me it was more than that. For me this was my project, an exciting project which not only I would gain but also give back.







This event filled me with experience, having to deal with difficult situations which I will introduce further on, working as part of a team and also by helping the students gain employment gave me great satisfaction.

On the right our Twitter Hashtag which was used for a Twitter competition on the day









The event

The Grad Jobs Fair is an annual event which most Universities in the UK plan for the students and their recent Graduates. Some Universities name it a Careers Fair, Be Employable, Meet your Future but I wanted to keep it the Grad Jobs Fair since this is how it’s been established for years.


Picture on the right: Grad Jobs Fair at its busiest moments – and this is just one part of the venue. (900 students in 4 hours)



My events experience

I’ve also been attending other events as part of my role in the Employer Services Team, such as the Employer Partnership Board meetings at the University of Huddersfield, the Yorkshire Employer of the Year Awards in Leeds and the Kirklees Business Conference. All these events gave me an inside view. Networking at events is very important and building relationships with organisations can benefit the University and the Students.

Being a student myself I feel that I can relate to student needs, but each student is different and I wanted to have a variety of Employers coming. In some Universities, events like the Grad Jobs Fair are sometimes organised by a team of experts who have been doing it for years.

Knowing that the event plays such a key role in maintaining the employability status of the University of Huddersfield (top six of English Universities and top in Yorkshire for graduate employability in the latest league tables) made me more aware of the fact that I have a great responsibility on my shoulders, not letting myself down, the employers, my team and most importantly the students.


On the day itself, not everything goes as planned


• Some organisations had bigger stands than stated therefore the floor plan needed to change.

• We had a few cancellations on the day which you cannot predict.



The point is to always make a decision
which satisfies everyone and find a quick
solution for everything.

Next week I will write more about how I coped with all these challenges and you can read about whether our event was a success!

Picture on the right: Me on the left with my colleague Louise  after a long busy day at the Grad Jobs Fair !