For the third year running, GW4 universities have delivered graduate recruitment fairs for their Chinese returnee graduates. Organised by the GW4 consortium of University Careers Services of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter, multi-national employers based in China attended the fairs in the tier 1 cities of Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The fairs welcomed back high-profile global employers including Abercrombie & Fitch, Decathlon, IBM and Nielsen, as well as new attendees Bosch, Citi, Expedia and PWC, amongst many other graduate recruiters.
Stuart Johnson, Director of the University of Bristol Careers Service, commented on behalf of the GW4 partnership:
“We are delighted the fairs are now regarded as an annual must-attend event for such prestigious graduate recruiters who attend year-on-year. Our decision to include Shenzhen as a venue this year, regarded as the Silicon Valley of China, has enabled us to attract an even wider range of employers including China-based giants Grandland Group and ZTE.
“It is especially gratifying to see the range and quality of employers has resulted in an increase of 20% more graduates attending the fairs this year with an increasing number of graduates becoming employed as a result.”
Duncan Du, Associate Consultant for TEKsystems and GW4 University alumni, commented:
“The GW4 career fairs provide a great opportunity to meet with the graduates and assess their potential. Already, one of the stand-out graduates has been interviewed and has a trial start with our company this week. As a recruiter with TEKsystems of the Allegis Group, I’d like to thank the GW4 partnership for creating such a successful event. We look forward to participating in the future.”
For global fashion retailer, H&M, the fairs are an excellent platform that allows them to meet high-quality returnee graduates. Open personalities and good English language skills fit well with the H&M culture. Last year the company successfully hired a GW4 graduate who had just finished her Masters degree and whose performance in her first year has already resulted in a promotion.
The fairs continue to open up further opportunities for graduates of the GW4 Universities, as well as contribute to the Universities' growing global profile among prospective students and international employers.
The fairs were delivered as part of the GW4 Careers Service partnership of the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. Planning is now in-train to grow the capacity of the events further for 2018. Further information regarding the events is available here: http://gw4.ac.uk/all-events/gw4-universities-international-careers-fairs-2017/