Sales Executive in IIR Exhibition, London Victoria office

I started job hunting when I was doing the dissertation for my Masters in International Technology Management, in July 2007. In order to gain some experiences of working in the UK, I started with some temporary office jobs first, including in OCR (Westwood Business Park) and WIMRC (WMG). In the meantime, I applied for other permanent vacancies related to my degree. After finishing the temporary jobs I got about 10 interviews within 2 months, and I decided to accept the current offer.

IIR Exhibitions, was established in 1992 and specialises in the delivery of large-scale conferences and exhibitions. It is currently the organiser of over 40 major exhibitions across several industries. This international portfolio includes Print, Energy, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Transport, Construction, Leisure, Entertainment, Gifts & Homeware, Environment and Project Management.

The main responsibilities involved in my current role are to sell exhibition space to worldwide clients and to ensure the smoothness of each event. It is vital to develop some knowledge about the industry you are dealing with and to keep close relationships with the clients, as well as the steering committee members.

I would like to give the credit to Warwick for my successful job hunting in the current role. Thanks to the practical lectures in Warwick, I learned how to express myself openly in front of an audience by doing countless group presentations; how to achieve the best outcome in an organised and effective way by doing the research, and I got to know more about industry by attending the industrial visits and consulting with the tutors. Furthermore, Warwick campus is supported by a full range of facilities, such as a massive library and language centre providing good value lessons, which encourages students to spontaneously improve themselves. Based on those skills, I was able to precisely prepare the materials of the company profile when I did the interview, and show my own initiative while doing the presentation.

In my point of view, the key factors to achieving success in job hunting are:

1. Know Yourself – I recommend job-hunters to have a list of your own skills and advantages: education background, trainings, language, PC skills and previous experience for instance. You have to find out a best role which can be applied for your skills, as well as your interests. Some people have no ideas of what they want or what they have, therefore they can only “be chosen” by the jobs rather than “select” them.

2. Show Your Initiative – As well as professional knowledge, companies are always looking for the person who can show their initiative in an interview or at work. When you attend the interview, tell the panel how much you know about the company/role/market, describe what you can contribute to this position (more than they want you to do!), and show the forward-looking attitude that you will always bring new ideas to them.

3. Have a Positive Attitude – Job hunting may take months on average in the UK, depending on your experience and area. Always be positive and trust yourself even if you don’t have any interview invitations or are rejected when you do. Make sure you are always prepared because the opportunity may appear at any moment. When you achieve it, you should be proud of yourself.

It is certainly challenging for an overseas graduate to gain entry into the UK employment market.
"I sincerely thank my tutors and my manager in University of Warwick who have helped me to complete my success in job hunting, and wish the alumni and prospective students all the best in the future".