Students get to grips with their career at university fair

Hundreds of students and graduates attended the University of Derby's annual GRIP (Graduate Recruitment, Internship and Placement) Careers fair yesterday, (October 6) where 60 local, regional and national employers were in attendance.

GRIP was open to all students and recent graduates, between 10.30am-3pm, where they could meet companies, including Network Rail, JCB, Rolls-Royce, Dunelm, Boots, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the NHS.

Mariam Chaudhary, an IT and Business Studies student who is currently on placement with Pepsico said:“I went to the GRIP fair in my first and second year, which is where I met Pepsico, they remembered me from the fair when I went for my interview for a placement with them. And now, this year, I’m the other side of the stand helping Pepsico find students and graduates.”

Paul Phillips, Talent Acquisition Specialist, at Enterprise Rent-A-Car said: “We have attended the GRIP fair for several years now. Year after year we recruit many University of Derby students to our Graduate Scheme and Internship programme, with us hiring 12 students over the last 12 months.

“Many of these former students are now looking at their first promotion with us! The levels of engagement from students is second to none on the day, with hundreds of students approaching our stand and interacting with our team. We hope our continued partnership with Derby continues for many years to come as we welcome University of Derby graduates to our family.”

The event was hosted by the University of Derby's Career and Employment services at its Kedleston Road site.

Sue Morrison, Head of Careers and Employment Services at the University of Derby, said: “We were so pleased to welcome more than 60 high profile quality employers here at the University of Derby, which represented such a wide variety of opportunities for our students and graduates. 

"We received fantastic feedback from our exhibitors on how well prepared and engaged our students were on the day. It was so great to see so many of our graduates returning to represent employers on campus, many of whom had found their opportunities at one of our previous fairs.”