Everyone’s eyes were on the job last week as West Nottinghamshire College, Mansfield, supported National Careers Week across its college campuses.

National Careers Week is a celebration of careers guidance and free resources across the UK. The aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar to help support young people leaving education. It encourages education providers to bring together students, local employers and advisers through careers events and activities.

Throughout the week a number of activities and events were organised to help students to focus on their future career goals and the steps they need to take in order to get there.

The main careers and employability fayre took place on Tuesday (6 March), which saw many companies such as Center Parcs, the Army, Avon, Casual Dining Group Careers, The Princes Trust, NHS, Linney Group, BIMM and many more attend to give students advice about career opportunities and how to apply for jobs.

Michael Phillips, lead recruiter at the Nottingham Army careers office said: “There are 76 jobs available in the Army to start. Once you’re in the Army that figure rises to over 200.

“Starting pay for a new entrant regular soldier, during training with the Army is £15,000. If you have the equivalent of 180 UCAS points, you can begin your career as a training officer on almost £26,000.

“My advice to young people seeking careers would be to do your research, study more if necessary and spend time choosing a job which makes you happy.

There were also fun activities for students to get involved in, including a careers photo booth. Students could dress up in their preferred job outfits and uniforms and snap a photograph of themselves.

Members of the college’s Higher Education team were on hand to let students know about the many university-level courses that are available after their studies, should they wish to take their skills to the next level. Students could also parade the graduation red carpet and imagine themselves graduating from a university-level programme.

Last Wednesday and Friday saw the arrival of the fairy job mothers. Members of the college’s own careers and employability team donned their pink fairy outfits to stand out in the crowds, so that students could call upon their services to discover more about job vacancies in the area and how to ensure their CVs and interview techniques were up-to-date.

Student advice and progression manager Maxine Buttery said: “National Careers Week is a brilliant way for us to really help our students make some very difficult but important decisions in their lives.

“It can be very overwhelming when you’re coming to the end of your studies and realising you need to begin to apply for jobs. When you’ve never done it before it’s a daunting task. But that’s what our careers team are here for as well as all the other employers who have visited and offered helpful advice.

“We hope that this week has proven helpful to students beginning to map out their careers and begin the job hunt and application process and that they’ve been able to get some good steer from the employers who attended the fayre.”

Throughout the week students were able to complete a survey which offers an iPad as top prize and £50 worth of Amazon vouchers.

Pictured are Ian Shaw and Debara Richards from the careers and employability team.