Soon-to-be agriculture graduates didnt let the chance go by to kickstart their careers, with more than 300 meetings held between recruiters and prospective employees at this week's ICMJ Virtual Careers Fair.
A total of 38 companies spanning the length and breadth of the meat and livestock value chains used the opportunity to seek out new talent for their businesses, for roles as varied as stock handlers to marketers, engineers, researchers and financial analysts.
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ICMJ Careers Fair coordinator Rozzie OReilly said the event was a huge success in connecting young people starting out in their careers with agribusinesses in need of talented and hard-working employees.
The fact that 316 meetings were held in the span of just five hours says huge amounts about the eagerness of agriculture graduates to find the right place to start their careers, Ms OReilly said.
It was also exciting to see that it wasnt just final-year university students taking part, but young industry professionals looking to take the next step in their career. And from a recruiter's point of view the Careers Fair Plus app was the perfect platform for booking and hosting the 10-minute video meetings.
ICMJ is a not-for-profit association which aims to inspire and develop future professionals in the global red meat industry, and to build the pool of intelligent young meat industry representatives who will give the Australian meat industry the expertise to compete internationally.
It launched the online event last year after COVID forced the cancellation of its trade expos in Wagga and Rockhampton, which have traditionally been happy hunting grounds for red meat businesses looking to recruit the best and brightest university graduates.
This years Virtual Careers Fair kicked off with a webinar on Making the Most out of Networking Opportunities from leading agribusiness recruiter Nigel Crawley, of Rimfire Resources, who provided 30 participants with top tips on how to impress during their video conferences.
More than 50 per cent of the jobs weve placed in the last 12 months have happened even though the employer and employee havent actually met face-to-face until the first day of the job the initial meetings and job interviews are being done on videoconference so often now, so how we present online is really important, Mr Crawley said.
