Our Autumn career events are in full swing, with our Focus on Banking, Finance and Consultancy career fair live all week! But we know that as King’s students, you will have a lot on your plate during these times: starting your studies virtually and getting to grips with all the complexity that comes with the various online platforms can be tiresome! In order to help you along, we answered some of the most common questions about our Focused Festivals.
Why should I attend Focused Festivals?
Our Focused Festivals are specialised weeks designed to give you a great opportunity to learn about careers in different industries. These weeks are full of events to attend, chances to network with employers via live online chats or drop-in sessions, and browse work opportunities in various industries and sectors. We have created a quick PDF guide on how you can maximise your festival experience – this includes simple explanations and tips for our Focused Festivals.
Please visit our Events KEATS pages for a general overview of our Autumn and Spring term Focused Festivals. You’ll be able to see all current and upcoming virtual career festivals. While each festival is themed to industries and sectors, students from all degree backgrounds can attend.
Can I attend all week or just on the day I’ve booked?
You can attend the Focused Festival on every day of its running – attendance is not limited to your booked day because the event runs through Monday to Friday.
Where exactly does the festival take place?
The Focused Festivals are fully virtual festivals, and your festival experience will come from interacting with various separate but connected platforms.
For events, you will use King’s CareerConnect to book and then join via platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Hangout.
To find our virtual resources about careers in the industry, learn more about maximising your festival experience and interact with King’s Careers & Employability, you will use KEATS. Think of it as a “gateway KEATS page” where you can access information on the week’s events, an introduction to the festival experience, and access Graduateland via a direct button.
The area where you will interact individually with employers is Graduateland. This is an external platform where the participating employers have “virtual stands” – this includes information, videos, leaflets and opportunities. You also get to live-chat with employers throughout the week, whether that’s learning about careers in their company or current internships and work opportunities.
How do I join Focused Festival Events, such as webinars and masterclasses?
Events throughout the week are bookable through King’s CareerConnect. You can view a schedule of our weeks’ events on the specific Focused Festival KEATS pages, but make sure you log on to King’s CareerConnect to book your place.
After you book your attendance via King’s CareerConnect on the event, make sure you scroll down to see what the “student registration” details say. This section has important information including links to join the virtual event. Sometimes, employers require students to book attendance also on their external booking platforms well in advance. It’s important you take a look at the full description of the event to make sure you are all set to attend your chosen events, and book your attendance a few days in advance! Please use your KCL email address to sign up, if you have one.
How do I use GraduateLand?
When you are looking to engage with employers and opportunities, Graduateland is the place to go. To access Graduateland, follow these steps:
- Go to the Festival KEATS pages
- Click on “Enter GraduateLand”
- Click Register – You will need to create a quick profile to access the site. The registration process is quick and simple, but to help you w have a handy resource with top tips to create your profile (page 6).
After you register, you will arrive at the Focus Festival Graduateland home page. On this page, read the welcome message and instructions, and check out our tutorial video about the best ways to engage with employers.
You will use the tabs at the top (General – Companies – Jobs) to navigate the festival page, as seen in the image above.
On the Companies page, you’ll see all of the employers who are attending the festival. By clicking on their virtual stand, you’ll learn more about the company and their opportunities. You will also get to ask these companies questions via a live-chat function and even schedule a one-to-one call opportunity for your questions (this one-to-one slot is called “interview slot” – however, don’t worry, you aren’t expected to go through an actual interview, this is just what Graduateland calls its functionality).
In the Jobs page, you’ll explore opportunities that are currently recruiting for applications in the industry. You can filter by job categories and types.
What if I have questions about the Focused Festivals, or need to report an issue?
In addition to this blog post, you have plenty of chances to ask us questions during each Focus Festival week. There is a question & answer Padlet for you to post questions on the festival KEATS page. If something in the festival area isn’t working – this is a good place to troubleshoot and let us know! We also run drop-in sessions during each festival week where you can chat with us directly, times of which will be visible on the Festival KEATS page in the right-hand sidebar. You are always welcome to contact us on careers@kcl.ac.uk if you have any further enquiries.
If I want to apply for work opportunities, what support can King’s Careers & Employability offer me?
Lots of support! If you have found a work opportunity that you’d like to apply to, we offer a wide range of application support on our Action KEATS pages – check out the sections on CV and Cover letter advice.
Once you have drafted your CV, you can go through our virtual CV pathways on King’s CareerConnect – a self-checking and learning journey to make your CV even better and give you the tools for success.
You can also use our virtual CV Checker if you are in need of a quick check and feedback about your CV. Read more about our CV pathways and CV Checker tools from our previous blog post!
In addition to these resources which are available to you virtually 24/7, we run application advice appointments which are bookable through your King’s CareerConnect dashboard. In these appointments, you can talk to an Application Adviser about your CV or cover letter, and get valuable feedback to your specific steps going forward.
We hope these answers to your frequently asked questions help you to maximise your festival experience with King’s Careers & Employability! Don’t worry if you find the digital spaces confusing at first – during these times, it’s important to remember we are all new to interacting with a virtual university, and it’s best to just try things out and give yourself time. We hope to help you towards as smooth virtual career fair experience as possible – but if there is anything we can do better, please let us know by completing a feedback form on the Focused Festival KEATS pages.