St Mary's Careers, Apprenticeship and Higher Education Fair

This November's Careers, Apprenticeship and Higher Education Fair at St Mary's proved to be the biggest ever, with more than forty organisations, both local and further afield, coming together to offer inspiration and insight to our career-minded students.

This biennial event is purposefully arranged by the Careers Department to give students the opportunity for face-to-face interaction with further education providers, potential employers, and to demonstrate the diverse range of options available to them.

The phrase “There’s always more to it” was repeated often - an exciting prospect for students who were taking a good look at potential careers, pathways and employers.

The Army Recruitment representative was keen to explain that there's a whole lot more to an Army Career than combat, describing opportunities, including a fully funded degree, in engineering, medicine, intelligence, communications, HR and finance, logistics and supply.

The Norwich University of Arts explained that there’s more to it than people expect from their E-Sports degree, so put aside all thoughts of game controllers. It’s a business course involving event management, streaming, broadcasting, graphic design and marketing.

There is always more to it in banking too, said Sarah from Handelsbanken, the Swedish banking service. She described banking as a highly customer-focused environment, where you can be an A* student but you also need to be a people person too.

At the British Antarctic Survey, there were the eye-catching pictures of penguins in the snow but as their representative, Alex, pointed out, he’s never actually been to the Antarctic, his role is within their HR department. Beyond the obvious associations with science, climate change, ozone holes and penguins, the BAS is such a huge institute that of course most of its employees have no experience of the Antarctic. Yes, there are the biologists, oceanographers, the meteorologists, and a whole range of folk in the AEP or Antarctic Employee Pool, who spend anywhere between six and 18 months in Antarctica. But there are also swathes of people who have no perceived relevant background at all but who play a vital role in the extraordinary work of the British Antarctic Survey.

St Mary's alumnae were there too, to give first hand insight into their chosen careers. Dentists, Troi and Storm B, described their roles as creative, artistic and highly customer-focused, with the option to take oral medicine available for those who want a more medical approach.

Maiya F., class of 2019, was on hand to explain the ins and outs of being a quantity surveyor for TSA Riley, the graduate and apprenticeship programs available, and what it's like to be a woman in the construction sector. Her advice included not thinking about job titles that appeal, but more to think about what you would like to be doing every day. She takes great delight in being 'an accountant in construction' with a dynamic role that sees her not sitting at a desk every day but visiting the builds she has been involved in - some of which can be literally life changing for, e.g. the residents of a new care home.

Feedback from the organisations on show was very encouraging, and a credit to the students:

"I was amazed at the questions I was asked by the students when they were coming up to the Allia table! Lots of motivation to make the world a better place, which was very inspiring!" - Marina from the charity, Allia.

Tom Billingham from Two Mile Ash Teaching: "Your students are excellent ambassadors for themselves and St Mary's. I found them to be incredibly articulate, attentive and engaged. They were passionate about their learning and asked some excellent questions. I had several tell me during the event how helpful they had found it and how much the school supports them with future choices."