Students, graduates and employers gather for Employability Week

The University of Northampton’s Employability Week – which is being put together for students, graduates and employers across the region.

Multimedia CV writing workshops, a Jobs Fair, an Apprentice-style challenge and an army assault course are just a few of the things on offer in the Employability Week.

The week of fun, games, guidance and support - being held across both University campuses from Monday 28 February to Friday 4 March - has been organised to help students plan for their future careers, build their networks and contacts and secure experience and evidence to build their CVs.

Highlights lined up for the Monday (28 February) include a Business Games session, which will give people the chance to create a new product from scratch and pitch the idea to a panel. There will also be a session on social enterprises and an Apprentice styled afternoon, focused on teamwork skills and business games. A talk run by the University's Enterprise Club will take place, focused on how people can turn their ideas into a reality. There will also be a workshop on multimedia CVs using Google Tools, repeated on Wednesday and Friday.

Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be dedicated to a student employability conference, with a programme of talks, graduate internship case studies and a range of student, alumni and invited guests as key note speakers.

Also on offer during the week will be presentation workshops, running on Tuesday and Thursday, an Open Evening on Tuesday night for people thinking of returning to their studies later in life and an Army assault course and field kitchen running throughout Wednesday, which will be combined with workshops on leadership. The week will end on the Friday with a Jobs Fair.

Creating opportunities and securing employment after graduation has never been a hotter topic. Providing students with the 'time' to gain experience, whilst still at University is vital. This week is all about their involvement and their participation and helping them to get as much they can, from everything that is on offer.

Catherine Klime, Head of Careers & Employability, The University of Northampton

Linda Davis, Head of the Centre for Community Volunteering, The University of Northampton, explained:

The University is excited to be playing a leading role in helping to raise the profile of employability within our student community and to encourage students to engage early in developing the graduate competences they need.

Over the last few weeks we have been working with student volunteers to help them with their own conference, running on Tuesday and Thursday as part of Employability Week. The students have been promoting the event, they will host it, present case stories and they will also carry out research during the week around students' perception of what employability means to them.

Linda Davis, Head of the Centre for Community Volunteering, The University of Northampton

Many of the events lined up for Employability Week need to be booked in advance. For the schedule and details on how to reserve your space, visit www.northampton.ac.uk/employabilityweek