Exhibitor Area: Making the most of the fair

Who am I going to meet at this event?

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This year we are delighted to extend the event to all 15 universities from Scotland. The event is open to students from any subject background and at any stage in their course but it is primarily targeted to graduating students, including undergraduate finalists and postgraduate students.  Whilst we are unable to say how many students will attend this year’s virtual event, there are over 15,000 final year undergraduate students graduating from universities across Scotland this summer. We are hoping for student attendance from all universities. We would expect attendance from University of Edinburgh students to be around 60% Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, 35% STEM and 5% Medical and Veterinary Medicine University. To see the range of disciplines offered at the University of Edinburgh, please visit our College and School webpage or get in touch to discuss further.  

In terms of level of study, traditionally our face to face fair is most popular with Postgraduate Taught (Masters) students and final year Undergraduate students, welcoming much smaller numbers of early year Undergraduate students.   

University of Edinburgh are proud to have a very diverse student population – our international students make up 46% of our student population and come from 167 countries. Almost 34% of our students are from non-EU countries. It is likely you will be asked about visas and so we encourage you to think about how you will handle these enquiries on the day.  Recruiting international students can be easier than you think. Read through our guidance and familiarise yourself with your organisation’s procedures.

Preparation you can do

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We encourage students to prepare for the fair by researching the organisations who are attending and recommend they complete their student profile with as much information as possible to showcase their skills and experiences to exhibitors. Realistically, we know that some students will not have done as much preparation as others – but they could still be great potential candidates for you.  You can make the most of your interactions with students by:

• Ensuring you provide us with as much detail a possible to make sure your exhibitor stall is comprehensive. This is often the first point of contact for students in the fair, so having a comprehensive page will enable quality, varied conversations on the day.   

• In our Virtual Careers Fair you can identify and speak directly to student and graduate attendees via the inbuilt sourcing tool. You can search for candidates using different filters, invite them to apply for any of your positions, send direct instant messages and request a virtual meeting with candidates you would like to speak with further.   

• Having a minimum of two representatives in the platform that are available to speak with attendees throughout the day – one person to respond to incoming student interactions and another to search and identify students you would like to speak with further.  

• Being prepared to answer a wide range of questions. Your main aim should be to talk to graduating students about your graduate level roles, but remember that early year students become final year students and they may be seeking advice on what they can be doing now to enhance their applications later. These are still valuable conversations and connections.  

• Familiarising yourself with your organisation’s processes regarding sponsorship of international students. Are you sure you can’t sponsor? You will really widen your pool of potential candidates and it is easier than you think. Read through our guidance and review the exemptions.  

• Attend the Exhibitor briefing session in advance of the event.

• Talking about opportunities you have currently, but also giving students a general picture of how your organisation recruits - so that they understand how they can increase their chances of finding roles you may have in the future.    

• Talking on a personal level – be prepared to share detail of your own career path, and give real life examples of what you/your colleagues are working on.  The benefit of the audio and video call function is to allow students to get a level of insight that may not be possible from your profile or FAQ’s.   

• Being mindful that some students will prefer to use the text or audio function to speak with exhibitors - this is a personal preference.  

• Being mindful of using jargon on your exhibitor profile or FAQ’s – we would encourage you to consider that use of acronyms or other jargon may be off-putting.  

• Be open to speaking to students from a variety of disciplines and please avoid telling a student that they are not relevant for you, instead advise them to keep an eye out for future opportunities at your company.