WorkFair 2022: Recap and Highlights
October 21, 2022Our third annual WorkFair event just took place – and it was a huge success! We linked students and graduates with LGBTQ+ inclusive workplaces, provided help and advice for job seekers, and hosted a number of panels geared towards promoting diversity, inclusivity and equality in the workplace. Thank you to everyone who took part, we hope you found it insightful and helpful.
If you missed out on any of our excellent panels on topics such as Securing a Graduate Job and Attracting Top Talent, have no fear! You can still watch the full recorded sessions or read our recap of the main WorkFair panels below.
Attracting Top Talent
In our panel for Attracting Top Talent, we were joined by Lewis Bell (Technical Sourcer at Booking.Com); Jayson Darby (Director of Science at Thomas International); Kelley Hartman (Manager and Talent Acquisition at Resmed); Brett Hemmerling (Programs Manager at Moody’s) and Amy Vankirk (Senior Director at Paraxel).
Our first panel of the day focused on attracting talent, featuring a range of professional panelists giving an exclusive insight into how their companies attract and retain talent, making their work teams as strong as possible. Topics discussed include the intricacies of the hiring process, the role of diversity and inclusion in each company, and the barriers they have overcome to ensure equal opportunities for each potential candidate. When asked about the importance of diversity, the panelists informed us of how their companies value inclusivity, and how it benefits both employees and employers.
“You can have everyone getting on well because they're really similar, which is easy to manage, but sometimes a bit of healthy difference doesn't have to become conflict, it can help companies be more creative," explained Jayson Darby. "If you're creating opportunities for more people from different backgrounds to work together, they'll have better ideas, they'll solve problems better.”
“At Paraxel, we take our D&I approach a little bit further, and we apply it to our suppliers as well," Amy VanKirk said. "We like to partner with minority owned businesses, or women owned businesses as well, so that we can say our suppliers are also connected into our D&I strategy.”