There was a buzz of excitement and energetic conversation as potential candidates came to The Hauser Forum to meet representatives from some of the region's leading employer organisations, including headline sponsors TTP, who - along with Amazon, Domino Printing Sciences and the Royal Society of Chemistry - provided interesting insight into their operations and recruitment processes at special workshops throughout the afternoon.
Feedback from companies was positive: the quality of candidates was excellent, and several were likely to proceed further to interview or assessment sessions. Potential recruits reported that the event had been very useful, especially as it provided a welcome and unusual opportunity to talk directly to line managers, engineers and recruiters.
Other companies present, along with agency sponsor polkadotfrog, included Arcus Global, Bespak, Blacktrace Holdings, Cambridge Enterprise, Cosworth, DisplayLink, Excell Group, Illumina, Linguamatics, Marshall Aerospace, Metail, PA Consulting, PCME, Pico Technology, Qualcomm and Zinwave.
Claire Angus, head of Cambridge Network's Recruitment Gateway, which organised the event on behalf of Network members, said:"Following our successful event in the spring, we tried a new format, with some interesting and creative workshops that attracted a diverse audience. As well as skilled professionals, we even had a couple of schools who brought their students in for the talks specifically. These were very well received.
"The event was fantastic, with candidates being interviewed on site because they were too good to see leave; and people queuing for workshops, rushing in through the front door to get to them on time. We saw candidates waiting patiently to speak to employers as they worked their way through the people waiting at their stands, and some stands stayed up well past the 4pm close, with employers still talking to candidates in the room.
"The turn-out was remarkably high, with more than 200 through the door during the four-hour event, despite the weather. It proves that people keen to find a new job or a change in career were determined to make the effort to come along and we believe the overall quality of the potential candidates - both mature professionals and those starting out on their careers - was excellent.
"Now we plan to build on our success, possibly by running candidate evenings or workshops before ramping up to our main Jobs Fair in May 2017. Some exhibitors are already booking up for the next one!"
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