JOB FAIRS 2021: ENGINEERS REMAIN IN DEMAND

CAMPUS NEWS

Online recruitment and application were the standard this year. The transition from live to virtual went fast and smooth on all campuses of the Faculty of Engineering Technology. Against all expectations, the virtual job fairs had a high turnout and in many respects were not inferior to the live editions in the pre-coronation era. The pandemic has not affected the demand for engineers, that much is clear.

Organising a job fair amid the COVID 19 crisis, did not create high expectations on the campuses. De Nayer Campus and the Thomas More college, which traditionally organise the largest job fair, opened a joint platform with their colleagues at Geel Campus to make sure there were enough companies and vacancies. Lieze Rombauts, communication manager at De Nayer Campus, speaks of a good decision. “With 245 companies, we are approaching the number we had at the physical job fair last year. The online formula has not deterred our loyal customers from registering again. Together they offered 930 vacancies, not only for technology engineers but also for professional bachelors”.

“The success of the joint exhibition is also evident from the other figures,” says Ellen Mostmans, communication manager at Geel Campus “For example, 2500 final-year students were uploaded to the system. 940 penultimate year students, lecturers and external visitors registered. This resulted in 35,000 visits to the stands, 8,600 job consultations, 435 direct applications, 1,780 chat conversations and 660 direct messages sent by visitors. The joint job fair of the De Nayer and Geel campuses also provided online job application training and sessions on topics such as a doctorate, innovative entrepreneurship, further study at the faculty and KU Leuven and the educational master’s for engineers. One-on-one interviews with Organisational Psychology students were possible.

Panel discussion

At the opening of the fair on 9 March, a panel discussion in collaboration with Kanaal Z was scheduled with Martine Reynaerts, CEO of Reynaerts Aluminium, Hans Maertens, managing director of VOKA, Prof. Luc Sels, Rector of KU Leuven and Stijn Coenen, General Director of Thomas More. The speakers stressed the crucial importance of innovation, entrepreneurship and multidisciplinarity for the graduated engineers. Besides a solid technical knowledge, professional skills are also indispensable for a young professional. And if you want to be successful in your career, lifelong learning is a natural attitude. After the panel discussion, Hilde Crevits, Vice-Minister-President and Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation and Employment opened the joint virtual fair.

Primeur

This year, Ghent Technology Campus organised a completely virtual fair for the first time and joined forces with Odisee University College. “With 75 companies we did not reach the 130 of previous years, but with 860 vacancies we more than made up for it,” says communications manager Laura Taelman. “The 254 final-year students who visited the fair participated in 1,878 job consultations and 110 direct applications. 178 students participated in the chat sessions and 450 sent a message to a company. During the job fair, the students could have their CVs screened at Randstad and the Student Career Centre. There were also information sessions on topics such as doctoral studies, further studies, and innovative entrepreneurship.

Bruges Campus opted for a small-scale initiative to replace the physical job fair. For half a day, parallel online sessions of 30 minutes each were organised, during which students could choose from four sessions scheduled at the same time,” says organizer Isabelle Vervenne. “This way, each student could get to know at least eight companies. In total, 30 companies were involved, and 125 students took part, including final-year professional bachelor students from Vives University College”.

“The students were quite satisfied with the format”, continues Isabelle. Many questions were asked during the sessions. But everyone agreed that a physical fair is preferable to an online version”.

Career Days

The same message can be heard at Group T Campus in Leuven. The virtual fair opened its doors on 10 February with 87 exhibitors. “That was considerably less than the 150 we had last year, but the virtual fair stands up to comparison when it comes to job vacancies,” says Vanessa Elsen, Communication & Events staff member. “The 419 vacancies have been consulted 6,046 times so far, resulting in 506 applications. The stands themselves were visited 15,284 times. Students and exhibitors together initiated 653 conversations. The students themselves took the initiative 564 times. At the same time, a lot of messages were exchanged: 2421 by the exhibitors and 1002 by the students. These figures date from the end of April. The virtual fair runs until the end of September. We expect a new wave of registrations after the exam period”. At Group T Leuven Campus, too, the virtual fair was accompanied by flanking and complementary activities, including the Online Career Days organized by the student organization Industria. These consisted of company presentations and meetings for final-year students and recruiters.

Second Life

While virtual fairs may not be able to match their physical counterparts, they are not limited to a one-day event. The fairs on most campuses remain online until autumn. Now that it appears that business confidence is on the rise again, this could well be an important asset. According to the World Trade Organisation, global trade is recovering better than expected from the pandemic, with trade volumes expected to increase by 8% in 2021. In addition, the WHO is also forecasting global growth of 5.1% after a 3.8% drop in 2020. The figures of the Starters Atlas, published on 21 April by Graydon together with the employers’ organisation Unizo show that never so many Flemings have taken the step towards entrepreneurship. A total of 65,555, 1.1% more than in 2019.

If, because of vaccination and falling infections, business and consumer confidence returns, the virtual job fairs on the campuses may be in for a second life. If engineers were still very much in demand even at the height of the coronary crisis, they will be even more so when the economy starts to recover.

Yves Persoons