Department of Education holds virtual careers fair

The Department of Education held a virtual careers fair on Tuesday with students able to chat to professionals online.
The virtual careers fair aimed to be just like the in person event, with the website showing different booths that students could click on and begin interacting.

The event is traditionally held in the Tercentenary Hall where booths line the room and hundreds of local students are able to seek career advice.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the Department of Education was unable to hold this event.

The Department of Education said the schools had to look at alternative and creative solutions in order to ensure that the event could go ahead, in keeping with Public Health guidelines and keeping the community safe.

The event, which was organised by Bayside School, Westside School and the Gibraltar College with support from the Department of Education, was able to run on a virtual platform from 2pm to 8pm.

Students had the opportunity to chat to over 40 different professions.

The virtual platform allowed attendees and exhibitors to interact via chat, audio and video as well as provide exhibitors an opportunity to share material with attendees in a number of multimedia formats.

The organising team and exhibitors have been hard at work for a number of months and are looking forward to sharing the final product with our students.

University advice was also on offer during the morning and early afternoon.

These talks where sponsored by the Kusuma Trust and aimed to support students University application process.

The university talks included a 40 minute presentation on the benefits of a degree, how to start choosing where to go and what to study and an insight into university life, the dos and don’ts of Personal Statement writing, including what admissions tutors are looking for, and an interactive presentation on developing interview skills, including logistics, behaviour, attire and, of course, how to tackle those all-important interview questions, even the tricky ones.

There was also a tab where students would watch videos on the different companies and departments, and another tab for resources with useful documents.

The Fair was also open to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

This year’s Careers Fair was the most environmentally friendly fair which has been organised by the schools.

The environmental impact of printing promotional materials and the travel to and from the event, particularly for those exhibitors coming from abroad is eliminated by running the event on a virtual platform.

“This can only be a good thing as we strive for a greener Gibraltar,” the Gibraltar Government said.