Careers professionals at the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham and Nottingham are busy planning their next business partnership in China after their first joint graduate careers event in the country attracted praise from employers, students and alumni.

They are now aiming to work more closely with employers in China at the next event after 60 high-profile employers attended the Joint UK Universities Career Fair in Shanghai with the next fair planned for spring 2019.

Nearly 600 students and recent alumni from the three Universities had the opportunity to apply for jobs and engage with 60 leading Chinese employers including Bassetti, China Pacific Construction Group, Citi Group, Nielsen, UBS, Geely, Deloitte, Ericsson, Expedia, HSBC, IBM, KPMG, Mattel, Mintel, Philips, PwC and Unilever.

Professor Simon Swain, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Warwick, said:

“Warwick is committed to being an international institution and we are proud to attract students from across the world. Employability is integral to a Warwick education and we continue to work hard to ensure that all of our students have opportunities to connect with potential employers.

“This new careers fair in Shanghai is a fantastic example of Warwick continuing to support our international students beyond graduation and we are delighted that so many students and employers have been able to benefit from it.”

Esther de Perlaky, International Employer Liaison Manager at the University of Warwick, explained why this event is strategically important to the institution:

“This careers fair demonstrates our commitment to students from the Asia Pacific region and their future employability. It has been an invaluable opportunity to strengthen our relationships with key employers and to increase the breadth and depth of graduate roles and internships.

“We are very grateful to our alumni community for also helping us to support this vital work.”

The event proved to be a great success and has cemented Warwick’s reputation in the region.

Nick Lesser, an alumnus and Head of Graduate Talent Asia for Nielsen attended the event and said:

“Warwick has long been one of our leading partners in terms of hiring talented fresh graduates and the events have been a strong support in this. Combining this careers fair with the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham helped make it yet more beneficial for us and it was well worth investing our time and resources in joining it.”

Gloria Barber from Careers in Business at the University of Birmingham said, “All three partner universities are committed to creating employment opportunities for our students and our first joint careers fair was a great success.

“We are now committed to raising the bar at next year’s event and looking to bring in more Chinese employers, putting them in touch with our students, and creating connections that lead to excellent career opportunities that benefit both student and employer.”

She added that feedback from attendees and employers was exceptionally positive, with every employer stating they would be interested in attending future fairs.

A representative from Mintel said: “We have had hundreds of CVs today! And we expect to make over 10 hires from this Fair – we will be arranging interviews next week!”

High praise for both the organisation and impact of the fair was offered by participating employers, including PwC and Nielsen who said respectively that, in comparison to other fairs, the Shanghai event had more "reputable companies and high quality students" and was "one of the best".

Several companies were particularly impressed by the quality of students. Expedia noted, “(sic)a good collection of candidates with different backgrounds”, and Visa commented, “We saw many excellent students here.”

A representative of CPA Australia said, “This is one of the best organised fairs I have attended and the breadth and status of the other employers here today is hugely impressive. The quality of the students is outstanding and is an excellent reflection of the three universities.”

“The preparation and organisation before and during the fair from the three universities has been brilliant,” said a Bassetti representative. “We are delighted to meet such a variety of students today and we can really see how closely the three universities have worked together to deliver such a successful Fair today.”

Attendees have already begun to receive job offers from employers attending the fair.

Image: Graduate careers event in Shanghai in 2018 - click image for high res.

15 June 2018

Further information contact:

Luke Walton, International Press Manager

+44 (0) 7824 540 863

+44 (0) 2476 150 868

L dot Walton dot 1 at warwick dot ac dot uk