Tuesday 11 December 2012

Managing a successful Careers Event : After the rain comes the rainbow! Part 2


So the day of the fair came all my efforts over the last six months had gone into making the next four hours a success for our team, the University, the enmployers and most of all…the students! 
I dealt with the pressure and having to do three things at a time!  I was at the main entrance making sure that students swiped their cards  (method of recording attendance) at one point there were so many students coming in that I needed more staff to work at the sign in desk.  At the same time a student came up to me asking for directions and another member of staff was ringing me to ask me if we could order more food (delicious samosas).  What I did? I prioritised each action according to how urgent it was.  I directed the student very quickly as to where he needed to be, then tried and direct the students to swipe in and then, when I found a precious moment when there were not too many students, I rang my colleague back to help with the catering order.


Impressions  I cannot believe how time flies by when you have an event!  I’ve been planning this event for 6 months and there it was all my efforts and plans in just 4 busy hours! It’s like going on holiday, a week away and you feel it has just been a day!  I have to say this was the busiest day of my life; I met hundreds of people, made useful contacts and understood so much about managing events, managing time, team work and managing staff.

 (Picture on the left: Jaguar Land Rover displaying one of their cars at my event)
Any surprises? One of my biggest fears was that the time to open the doors would come and ….bam! No students. But no! My fear was just a fear!  Students did come and not only came but queued outside the entrance for 15 minutes before we opened up!  

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)



Students
Another major factor which contributed to the success was having several students giving out flyers and a student playing guitar and singing, wearing a pink t-shirt saying “GRAD JOBS FAIR NOW” while the event was on.

The mistakes students make when applying for jobs
That was an experience! Having to recruit students meant I would have to advertise the vacancy, shortlist the candidates and then interview them.  We’ve had 2 adverts, for a musician and for 3 student ambassadors. On the student advertisement, we’ve asked the students to explain in 50 words or less “why should we choose you”.  It made me realise that one of the biggest mistakes students usually do when they apply for a job it’s that they actually don’t read the instructions, and this can tell a lot about someone’s attention to detail and sometimes their personality.  Some students send their CVs or an email with far more than what we’ve asked them to.  Almost all the emails were the same.  I know that 50 words it’s not too much when it comes to applying for a job and describing something, but if you can be creative and come up with something unique in 50 words then it shows you can follow the instructions and maybe you can go that extra mile. 

The job advertisement was put on JobShop for only one day and we’ve almost received 80 applicants! I remember one person sent the same email 10 times – Mega Fault when applying for a job.  I had to separate the emails; I created a folder with the No’s and a Folder with the Yes’s.  The No’s included the ones which exceeded the 50 words.  Even if what was said was unique and they had a lot of experience, if they couldn’t follow the instructions, I couldn’t shortlist them.  In the end I shortlisted the 5 best answers and invited them for an interview. The interviews went well and I tried to be fair. After all 3 out of those 5 people were going to get the job. Having student ambassadors and a musician promoting the event, immediately created a lot of interest.


Personal reflection
What I’ve learned: team work is everything, I wouldn’t have managed to deliver the event without a great deal of help from my colleagues
Managing staff: Managing and positioning staff where appropriately and according to their strengths is very important
Dealing with pressure and difficult situations can teach you a lot about yourself.  No matter how well prepared you are, pressure will always find its way in, what matters the most is how fast you deal with it and how effectively you manage it.

 Multi-tasking and time management: prioritise each situation and act fast!
 Last minute changes: No matter how prepared you are you always have those.  Be prepared and find easy and fast solutions!

Measuring the success
Student attendance numbers, Organisations attendance numbers, Employer feedback, student feedback, finding out how many students got a job from each company.




Overall the venue was full with students from the time the doors opened until the closing time. This year there were more than 900 students attending (almost 200 more than last year).  Knowing that I have planned and executed the biggest Careers Fair, both in regards to employers and students attending, at the University of Huddersfield gave me great satisfaction and pride. And the fact that the Vice-Chancellor is aware of the success of the event, as he mentioned it at one of his talks this week, makes me think of one thing: After the rain comes the rainbow!

The best value I’ve gained from this event?  The confidence and expertise which I needed when dealing with events - now I can start building my Events Career!

Tuesday 4 December 2012

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


rainbow_elam_cr_2Three 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.



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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


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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.

IMG_1318• 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 !