With the graduate recruitment season now underway, some of Australia’s leading employers lined up to cast their eyes over the upcoming crop of graduates at Bond University’s Careers Fair held on Thursday March 31.
Rio Tinto, OneSteel, Westpac, Suncorp, Bovis Lend Lease, the Intercontinental Hotels Group, CPA Australia and PricewaterhouseCoopers are among 30-plus top-tier companies who were represented at Bond’s Gold Coast campus in search of new recruits.
“Bond University has established long-term partnerships with key companies and government departments across the broad cross-section of relevant industries,” said Kirsty Mitchell from Bond’s Career Development Centre.
“We liaise with them throughout the year to arrange internships for our students and job placements for graduates but the annual Careers Fair gives these companies an opportunity to meet students who will be finishing their degrees in the next twelve months and looking for graduate positions.
“Many of the companies we work with give Bond graduates first preference and see the Careers Fair as a chance to pick out the cream of each year’s crop.
“It can become quite competitive with our top students fielding offers from several high-level employers as a result of the Careers Fair and other opportunities arranged by the Career Development Centre.”
For Commerce/Law student Michael O’Meara, the Career Development Centre has been instrumental in helping him secure a position with global finance giant, Deutsche Bank, well before he graduates.
“At last year’s Career Fair, I spoke to representatives from leading banks, accounting firms and government departments, which enabled me to decide what industries to apply to. The Career Development Centre has also been really helpful in providing interview preparation, resume reviews and advertising internship opportunities,” he said.
Michael undertook internships with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hyundai Corporation and Deutsche Bank during the course of his Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Commerce degree, with the PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deutsche Bank internships both resulting in job offers. He ultimately decided to accept a graduate position with Deutsche Bank which he will start in 2012.
“Michael’s experience is not unusual and illustrates Bond’s strong focus on graduate outcomes; whether that requires sending the students to the employer’s workplace or bringing the employers to the students via events such as the annual Careers Fair,” said Kirsty.
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