Students from Telford College were invited to an insightful careers fair, with exhibitors including universities, internal college support and businesses, both local and national.

With over 800 students in attendance, businesses included established employers such as Greenhous, the NHS, Bespoke Computing, Muller, Epson and Schneider Electric Group.

One new addition to the careers fair was Clare Gilkes, schools advisor for the Department of Work & Pensions, here to discuss apprenticeship opportunities in the civil service.

“The civil service is massive, made up of around 500 different departments, agencies and bodies” says Clare. “There are half a million people employed by the civil service and there are countless opportunities available across all sectors.

“There’s a multitude of qualities that are useful for a role in the civil service as well as education. Work experience and voluntary roles offer fantastic skills such as customer service, communication, teamworking, critical thinking and so much more.”

Craig Hyde, Technical Manager at Stafford Park-based Scheider Electric, said: “Today we’re here to discuss our range of apprenticeships, from level 3 to degree level. These vary from technical sales positions, to tendering and installations.

“We’ve brought in some of the equipment we use for students to look at, including our intelligent circuit breakers, which links to the cloud in order to provide us with real time status updates, and a heat tag that alerts engineers about heat issues in a distribution panel.”

Reena Littlehales, undergraduate student recruitment and access officer at Keele University, said: “We’ve been so busy today; we’ve spoken to a lot of students who are currently studying T-Level qualifications and had the chance to discuss the vast university level options open to them at Keele.

“We’ve recently introduced a number of new courses, including sports & exercise science course, as well as our sports & exercise psychology course, in addition to new health & social care courses and speech & language therapy, which we’ve had a lot of interest about today.”

Isobel Barrett, Careers Coordinator at Telford College, said: “We’re delighted to provide our students with the opportunity to meet so many local employers and universities today.

“We’re always keen to explore opportunities to help students prepare for the world of work and higher education after their studies with us, supporting their learning pathways and understanding of the local labour market, as well as showcasing any other opportunities they may not have considered as a potential career path.

“So many employers have told me how they’ve enjoyed meeting our students today too, passing on their own experiences and inspiring the workforce of tomorrow. Many of them have already asked for a stall next year and we might need a bigger hall!”

For advice about careers and what to do after leaving college, contact our Careers team at careers@telfordcollege.ac.uk