Last Wednesday we were happy to hold a Seminar here at the Chamber within a very interesting programme organised by the Polytechnic University of Valencia named ‘The Two Weeks’. We received 20 students in their final year willing to increase their career opportunities as well as to face their professional future with the appropriate skills.
‘The Two Weeks Programme’ takes place once per year during the month of July and it is mainly focused on visiting prestigious companies to get in touch with industries on Energy, IT, Industrial Production, Technical Consultancy, Financial Engineering, Construction and Real State. The participants take also a daily course in Recruitment and Application skills.
The Seminar was introduced by our Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Rosa del Campo, who spoke briefly about the main services the Chamber provides and more in particular about The Graduate European Programme, which shares similar goals with ‘The Two Weeks Programme’. Mr. Antonio Reig , Prof. Dr. Industrial Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Co-ordinator of the programme, introduced two former participants, Sergio Soriano and Manuel Peña, both of them quite happy about their experiences during and after the programme.
Sergio Soriano Gómez decided to come to London after finishing his studies in the Polytechnic University of Valencia. He explained his own job hunting experience in a city where there are a lot of opportunities but also high levels of competitiveness. “In the beginning everything looked harder than expected. Things apparently simple, such as finding accommodation, turned out to be really difficult and somehow frustating. At the same time, these moments were also exciting, as they allowed me to live new ‘adventures’ and to get used to the new city.”
Sergio has been working in different companies since he arrived to London some months ago, and he keeps taking part in selection processes for big firms such as KPMG. “It is quite complicated to get a job in a company like that, but that is what I want to do, so it’s definitely worth trying”, he pointed out.
Manuel Peña focused his speech in the internacional professional experience as an added value for everyone’s career. He is currently working in a London-based company but before getting to this point he has lived and worked in different countries. “When someone goes to work abroad, he not only gets professional experience, but also personal, as it makes possible to meet and learn many things from people from varied and different cultures”, he said.
And last but not least was Ms. SofíaVázquez, director of Mundialengua UK, a company specialised in finding internships and jobs for graduates. She gave us some tips on how to do an interview in the UK, as well as useful information about what to do and what to avoid during a selection process.
We would like to thank all the people who participated in the Seminar, especially to Berta and Ana, two of the students taking part on the programme who are also writing this blog based on their experience during the two weeks. Don’t miss the opportunity to read it! http://thetwoweekslogbook.wordpress.com/