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2022

NI Leaders Inspire Queen’s Students to ‘Shape their Dream Career’

Leaders from some of Northern Ireland’s top organisations were among the speakers at the recent Spring Careers Festival at Queen’s University Belfast

student standing smiling to camera

 In a series of talks designed to encourage students to ‘Shape their Dream Career’ ahead of the Spring Recruitment Fair on 9 February, Louise Black a Director at PwC and Ashleen Feeney a Partner at KPMG joined the guest line-up to inspire students to follow their passion in order to make an impact in their future careers.

In a session focused on passion, Louise told students that passion can help inform and guide your future career choices. The Business Information Technology graduate from Queen’s said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If it is something that you are passionate about, you are more inclined to put the effort in and be energised to do it and make sure you do a good job.”

Reflecting on her 12-year career with PwC, Louise added: “Every time I had an opportunity to do something, I took it and thought, ‘Okay, let me try that’. Once you can hone in on what you are passionate about, that’s what you focus your career path on. Throw yourself into everything and give yourself the opportunity to work out where that is for you.”

Meanwhile, Ashleen led a session on making an impact in your career, telling the student audience that work experience is key to standing out in the graduate job market. As an Economics and Accounting graduate from Queen’s, Ashleen graduated with six job offers, thanks to “impactful work experience’ she built up during her time at Queen’s. “Work experience triggered my genuine interest in building up my network and gave me a better understanding of the Northern Ireland economy.”

Other workshops included a session on renewing and reinventing your career led by Baker McKenzie, and a session on Courage led by tech firm Slice. Connor McLernon, Talent Acquisition Partner at Slice spoke about the importance of having courage in your career, telling students: “You want to push yourself forward and you don’t want to stagnate, so having the self-belief or the courage to put yourself out there is key to driving your career forward.”

Employers who later attended the Spring Recruitment Fair said they were impressed with how prepared Queen’s students were. Maeve Gorman, HR Business Partner at Baker McKenzie, one of the corporate partners of the Spring Careers Festival said. “On the day, we had great engagement and were impressed by the calibre of students who discussed our numerous graduate roles.  Great experience as an employer and I look forward to many more!”

Find out more about Careers Fairs

 

 

 

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