University of Manchester Careers Blog

With all the focus on the big Graduate Fairs next week, it’s easy to overlook our small on-campus specialist fair this week, the Ethnic Diversity Fair. There are some really big names attending this fair, and in some cases, it’s the only fair in Manchester they’re attending.

For example, the UK Civil Service Fast Stream, the Bank of England, Severn Trent Water, EDF Energy, Thoughtworks and the International Committee of the Red Cross are coming to the Ethnic Diversity Fair but not the other two big fairs. Although other big names (such as Aldi, Unilever, GCHQ, Siemens and Microsoft) are also coming to one of the later fairs, if you can’t make the big fairs, don’t miss the chance to talk to them at this smaller fair.

Where: Whitworth Hall (on campus)
Date: Wednesday 9th October
Time: 11am-4pm
Further details: Ethnic Diversity Fair, including full exhibitor list.

Why have an Ethnic Diversity Fair?
Employers normally come to this fair because they specifically want to raise their profile with black and asian students. This may be because they don’t feel their workforce adequately reflects the diversity of Britain today, or they feel that black and asian students may have been put off from applying in the past – or they just want to make sure they have access to the widest range of talent possible. However, they’re very open to talking to students of any ethnicity (we’ve all got an ethnicity). They also, very definitely, don’t operate any discrimination, positive or negative, when it comes to recruitment.

Some of the employers welcome international students, though others will have restrictions on employing non-UK nationals or those who need an employment visa. Other employers are actively targeting international students at this fair, such as Unilever’s China, Africa and Russia programmes.

Check each employer individually to make sure it’s worth your while attending – but don’t miss out if this is your one chance to talk to the employers you’d love to work for.