First event hailed a success

THE first Employability Week at Hollings was a great success, with 600 students attending the careers fair and 20 graduate and placement recruiters on campus.

The sessions were varied from wine and exotic food workshops organized by Hospitality Management tutors to spy games for Events Management students and inspirational talks by Trafford Council and National Trust for Tourism students.

The Clothing Design and Technology department ran their first successful PUSH vintage fair event organized by David Leathlean, senior lecturer in CDT. MetMUnch, the sustainable student food network of Hollings lead by Haleh Moravej, senior lecturer in applied nutrition, cooked and served 500 cups of pumpkin soup to staff and students of Hollings – bringing employability and pumpkins together in a creative explosion of spices and flavours and giving the food and nutrition students the chance to educate the audiences about the health benefits of pumpkins.

David Nelson careers and employability advisor for Hollings faculty said: “Feedback from employers has been fantastic, not just about the numbers of students attending but the quality.

“Students asked searching and informed questions and employers left with a feeling of a day well spent and seeing MMU Hollings as a home for quality students. All employers said the event was ‘very useful’ and ‘very well organised’. Employer expectations were met and in many cases exceeded.”

Business links

The event gave students the opportunity to talk face to face with employers, employers promoted their graduate opportunities and saw first hand the quality of students at Hollings, academic colleagues networked with employers and many links for course involvement were developed.

A series of presentations also took place and in particular ASOS had over 300 students attending their two presentations.

The employers who attended the fair were: Arcadia Group Ltd, ASOS, B&Q, The Co-operative Group, Dine Ltd, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Marriott International, Matalan, Morrisons, Next, The Rezidor Hotel group, Sainsbury’s, Shire Hotels, Skiworld, Thomas Cook, TUI UK and Ireland, Whitbread Hotels & restaurants, Manchester Fayre and Americam and Invasion Travel.

Sarah Moore, from Thomas Cook, said: “I found yesterday very positive. With MMU being the first Careers Fair this year that we have attended, the attendance and enthusiasm of the students gave me a real buzz for this year’s recruitment drive we have planned.”

Continued commitment

Haleh Moravej, employability representative for the faculty said they would continue in their commitment to student employability.

She said: “Hollings faculty will ensure that there are significantly more employer engagement opportunities for students; there will be a significant increase in the amount of employer student engagement both on and off campus; employers will be contributing to the development of relevant modules and will be offering ‘real time’ project opportunities such as Hilton to Hollings project of the Hospitality Management courses.

“Hollings faculty will also encourage opportunities for students to gain and benefit from meaningful, empowering and accredited work experience and training opportunities as well as entrepreneurial and enterprise challenges nationally and on a global platform.”