The Online Careers Fair comprised two live event days on Tuesday 29th July and Tuesday 6th August, and nearly 4,000 Service leavers at different stages of their resettlement took the opportunity to network with employers, training providers and transition support teams from the comfort of their own home or base.
Service leavers from 22 different countries logged in over the course of the two events, and initial feedback shows that the days were a great success for both exhibitors and Service leavers alike. One Service leaver commented, 'I found the Online Careers Fair exceptionally straight forward and simple to both access and use. It enabled me to identify a number of networking opportunities with potential employers. I would certainly use it again.'
Top national employers such as BAE Systems, Sky, Network Rail, Openreach and Amazon all attended the fair looking to delve into the military talent pool to fill both current and future vacancies. Having experienced a hive of activity at their booth throughout the event, Amazon's Darren Gosling said, 'Wow, what day! I don't think I have typed so much and so quickly in my life before today. Well done to those transitioning military personnel that have made a real effort with CVs, profiles and approach to the Amazon Recruitment Team.'
Employers and Service leavers were able to chat via private message, public message boards or email, allowing Service leavers the opportunity to find out if their skills and experience matched those being sought by the employers. One Service leaver highlighted the various benefits of attending: 'This careers fair has helped me to realise new opportunities, and opened my eyes to the options available to all; also it has helped me see the competition for similar positions, by watching the chat boxes.'
Thousands of live jobs from across a wide range of industry sectors were available, and Service leavers were able to submit their interest or apply for the roles during the event. The event was not just aimed at those ready to enter the job market though; MoD accredited training providers were on hand to provide advice on the range of courses available to support different career choices, and regional brigades were in attendance to speak with Service leavers on other areas of transition, including housing, finance and healthcare.
A number of useful webinars were also presented throughout the day, and topics included CV advice and tips from staff at BAE Systems, detailed information on working for Sky and Network Rail, an overview of business start-up for Service leavers from X-Forces, and a look at the opportunities within renewable energy from Think Power. If you registered for the fair but didn’t manage to catch the webinars, recordings are now available for you to watch on demand within the online environment.
One attendee summed up his experience of the event, saying: 'I have to give a big round of applause to the organisers of today’s event and to all the potential employers I have had the pleasure of chatting to. A really useful day and all the time sat at my desk in work so I could easily mix work with my personal business. Thank you!'
The online environment is still open for the next three months for registrants to leave messages for employers and to view the information, resources and jobs within the event. If you registered for the fair, click here to log back in.