This year sees the fifth anniversary of the annual Psychology networking event. This is an event which started in the Linklater rooms with 30 professionals and less than 100 students and has now grown into an event that takes over Elphinstone hall with more than 50 professionals and 200 students attending! Professional attendees range from accredited Psychology practitioners (e.g. clinical, educational, occupational and health psychologists), industrial professionals (e.g. People Factor consultants, Dekra), counsellors and therapists, to multiple charitable organisations (e.g. Momentum, Childline, ACVO). These professionals have kindly taken time out from their busy schedules to come along, meet our students and inspire the next generation.
The networking event is part if the School of Psychology employability program, which spans all four years of the degree, encompassing workshops, career talks, internships and culminating in the networking session. The aim of the program is to ensure our students have a good understanding of the wide range of career options open to them with a Psychology degree, support students gaining work experience and help students make connections that will support their future career plans. Previous networking events have seen students forge new connections and learn about career areas they hadn’t previously considered: ‘It really helped me learn more about different career options and I met a lot of amazing people who gave me their contact details if I had any further questions. I think the event was well organised and had a really good range of careers'.
There is no mistaking the importance of the event in the Psychology calendar, and we look forward to welcoming professionals, both new connections and familiar faces, to the event this year. For any students thinking about the event consider this sage advice from a past graduate of ours:
‘NETWORKING – you might think you won’t get anything out of the networking events, or you might think people are exaggerating when they talk about how important connections are – but even if you just talk to one person it can have huge benefits. The only reason I have the job I have now is due to the networking events I attended’.
(Please note this event is only for School of Psychology students.)
