News

Graduate Careers Fair

10/10/2011

gradireland Graduate Careers Fair 2011, RDS Dublin, Wednesday 12 October, 11am-5pm

The annual gradireland Graduate Careers Fair, Ireland’s biggest graduate careers event, takes place in the RDS in Dublin on Wednesday 12 October 2011 against a backdrop of huge uncertainty in the graduate job market. Latest CSO figures indicate that 62,400 graduates are currently unemployed; an average of 110 Irish citizens are emigrating every day; and the latest National Skills Bulletin reports that unemployment rates for third level graduates under the age of 25 is currently 18% (against a standardised national unemployment rate in August of 14.4%).

The gradireland Graduate Careers Fair is primarily a recruitment fair, so in light of the above, how many graduate jobs are there? Which sectors are they in? And how can graduates maximise their opportunities to land one of these roles?

How many graduate jobs are there?

There will be 130 companies exhibiting at the gradireland Graduate Careers Fair. Between them, they have an estimated 3,900 graduate jobs. These are real, paid, graduate jobs, across many locations and every degree discipline. We have exhibitors from across Ireland north and south, the UK, the Netherlands, France, the Far East and beyond.

At the Fair every single job will be posted on live Jobs Walls around the RDS, so we are encouraging students to attend with pen and paper (or take photos on their phones) then go home, find the jobs on gradireland.com and start applying.

Where are the jobs and in which sectors?

There are graduate jobs in Ireland and abroad, and for students of all disciplines across all sectors. The traditional large-scale graduate recruiters such as KPMG and PWC will be in attendance, who are recruiting 290 and 250 graduates respectively; there are also companies such as First Derivatives, a Newry-based company with over 300 graduate positions; and companies from nearly every sector will be in attendance (full list is here).

How can students maximise their opportunities to land a graduate job?

Jobs for all disciplines

Many of the bigger companies recruit graduates from all disciplines. Students should not pigeon-hole potential employers – IT companies need marketing, finance and language graduates; accountancy firms recruit from all disciplines, you don’t have to be an accountant. Indeed most of the companies at the gradireland Graduate Careers Fair recruit from a number of disciplines.

Use the Jobs Walls

There will be several Jobs Walls within the hall at the RDS, including one listing companies hiring graduates from all disciplines, as well as more specialist Jobs Walls relevant to specific sectors, eg IT and Finance. These will have over 3,900 live graduate opportunities listed, so bring a notepad and pen, or use your phone and take a photo of any opportunities that you are interested in applying to – then go home, find the job on gradireland.com and start making applications.

Bring your CV

Many employers are happy to receive CVs. In addition, at the gradireland

Graduate Careers Fair we will be running a specialist CV Clinic, with 50 hours of advice provided by third-level careers advisers, at which students can have their CV reviewed.

Attend the specialist careers seminars

There will be 30 specialist careers seminars running during the day, ranging from sessions on how to use social networking in your job hunt; CV, applications and interview preparation; and seminars on upskilling and reskilling for unemployed graduates.

The gradireland Graduate Careers Fair will take place on Wednesday 12th October from 11am – 5pm in the RDS Main Hall, Dublin 4. Entry is free for all pre-registered students, register via www.graduatecareersfair.com

About the gradireland Graduate Careers Fair:

The gradireland Graduate Careers Fair is the official careers fair of 12 of Ireland’s third-level institutions, and is organised by GTI Ireland, the official publishing partner of the Association of Higher Education Careers Services in Ireland, which represents all third-level institutions in Ireland, North and South.

The gradireland Graduate Careers Fair is brought to you by DCU; Trinity College Dublin; DIT; Dun Laoghaire IADT; Dundalk IT; ITT Tallaght; National College of Ireland; NUI Maynooth; St. Patricks College; The Open University; Carlow IT and Waterford IT.

For more information, interviews or comment please contact Mark Mitchell, Publisher, gradireland on 01-6451500 or mark.mitchell@gradireland.com; or Caroline Kennedy, Careers & Opportunities Officer, NCI, ckennedy@ncirl.ie or call 01-4498526 or 086 073 7470.