Photo by Casey Brockbank

The University of Roehampton School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences has adapted this year’s spring Careers Week activities to fit better with academic timetables so that students can make the most of the events on offer, Deputy Dean Gauti Sigthorsson said.

“We have completely revamped the schedule so that we put events on days that we know the majority of our students are in,” Sigthorsson said in an interview to kick off the week-long initiative. “There is real value in talking to practitioners and job professionals in certain professional areas.”

In the autumn, the school had the second-highest turnout, and Sigthorsson is hopeful about matching or exceeding those levels this time around.

The university wants to make Careers Week as accessible as possible by allowing students to have time to work on assignments, whilst also broadening their knowledge about career opportunities.

“Once Careers Week becomes a fixture on the calendar, it can also be embedded more easily in the taught programmes so that people can set aside time for Careers Week activities, such as reviewing CVs or having Academic Guidance Tutor meetings,” Sigthorsson said.

He stressed the value of the talks that have been scheduled, saying they “set you up for lifelong learning in a powerful way”.

Employers such as Microsoft, Deloitte and Arora Hotels are on hand to explain to students how they can use what they learn at university and apply that to their chosen profession.

“The strength of graduating with a degree is that you are not just trained for something specific. You are able to re-train yourself. The aim of Careers Week is for students to expand their horizons and gain fresh perspectives on where they can take their skills, background and experience when they’ve graduated,” Sigthorsson said.