College learners get employability boost at careers fair

Solihull Sixth Form College gave learners the opportunity to think about their future careers this week, when the annual Employability Fair took place.

Dozens of employers attended the event to set up stands at the careers fair and many also delivered a programme of talks to students.

Among the businesses who came onto campus were AstraZeneca, Cisco, Fitnniss, Mondelez, PhyzioFit, PM Group, SAE Creative Media and Virgin Media O2. The Police, Birmingham City University, Birmingham Newman University, Coventry University, Solihull Council and South Birmingham SCITT, which offers School Centred Initial Teacher Training offered by the Summit Learning Trust, were also in attendance.

While the careers fair in the College's Sports Hall was open to all learners, an afternoon of employment talks was aimed specifically at BTEC students and Year 13 employment seekers.

Among the topics of the talks were Apprenticeship opportunities and careers in fields such as engineering, finance, IT, law, nursing, physiotherapy, policing, sport and teaching.

Oona Stone, who is an assistant principal at the College, commented: "It was a wonderful afternoon in College. We are very grateful to all the employers who gave up their valuable time to come onto campus and speak with our young people. We want to make sure our learners have as much information as possible about the wide variety of progression opportunities open to them and this event really opened their eyes to many careers they had not even considered before."

The College launched its first Employability Fair in 2023 and this is the third time the event has taken place. Another event focussing more on Higher Education – the Careers & Higher Education Fair – will take place on Wednesday 25 June, when more than 60 universities from across the country will attend to set up stands and deliver talks to Year 12 learners.