Something for everyone at UI Career Days

The annual UI Career Days will take place between 29 January and 2 February where students and others interested can chat with entrepreneurs, learn the first steps in investing, go on a tour around Keflavik Airport and learn about opportunities in Europe to mention only a few activities and events available.

The programme this year is a collaborative effort of UI Careers Connection, UI Student Counselling Centre, UI Science Park, the Student Council Financial and Career Committee, UI Graduate School, and KLAK - Icelandic Startups. This will be Career Days’ ninth consecutive year which have until now had one annual theme. This year there will be a new theme each day in line with the diverse programme. “This year we’d like to bring in new perspectives on how to manage your career path and the themes reflect opportunities available to students at the university and beyond to strengthen their employability, get to know and enter the job market,” says Jónína Kaldal, a career and guidance counsellor at the University of Iceland, project manager at Careers Connection, and who is in charge of the ambitious programme for Career Days.

Events on and off campus

Kicking off on Monday 29 January with the theme “Are you ready to innovate?” the opening event will take place in Gróska where Jón Atli Benediktsson, rector of the University of Iceland, will address the audience. Followed by presentations from UI Science Park and KLAK - Icelandic Startups, an organization that supports entrepreneurs. Further, representatives from 20 startups and organizations will be present in Gróska and attendees are welcome to strike up a conversation and explore job opportunities within the start-up scene.

On Tuesday, the Student Council Financial and Career Committee will take over the programme with the theme “You as a business” at Litla Torg in Háskólatorg. Experts from Landsbankinn, the University of Iceland, and BHM will deliver presentations on how to excel at job hunting and be your own brand, how to start investing, labour rights, wage agreements and additional pension savings. “You often hear about students who don’t know where to start when it comes to writing their CVs, figuring out wage agreements and other things they need to think about when entering the job market. Career Days give students the opportunity to think in terms of their future in a practical way; from learning how to stand out from the crowd during the job search, how to read payslips, to how to start investing. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your future workplace during Career Days,” says Danival Egilsson, president of the Student Council Financial and Career Committee.

"The brand me"

As part of Tuesday’s programme, one of the presentations, by Jón Örn Guðbjartsson, head of marketing at UI marketing and communication, will cover a slightly unusual topic, namely, personal branding. The presentation will introduce students to the possibility of being their own brand. Our personal brand is based not only on our appearance and tone of voice – how we are seen and how we express ourselves – but also on our experience, knowledge, and skills and how we use them for our and others’ benefit. Can we then, manage ourselves as a brand? “It is said that companies are branding to differentiate them from the competition and make them more desirable to those doing business in the same field. People affect their reputation and image in a similar way with behaviour, words, and anything else related to the reality we live in. Like companies, our story and experience strongly influence our reputation. Can we market ourselves intentionally? I’ll be looking at all kinds of ideas related to this,” Jón Örn says. His presentation will be on Tuesday in Litla Torg in Háskólatorg at 12:30.

Taking place during the week are three events specifically aimed at PhD students. These events will focus on job opportunities outside of traditional academia. Speakers will introduce tools and techniques for exploring career opportunities beyond the university and point out companies and institutions likely to be interested in hiring people with PhDs.

Events will also take place outside of the university campus. Isavia, a company that manages operations and development at Keflavík Airport, and Mace, a British building inspections consultancy, are offering a tour around their facilities at Keflavík Airport. The annual „Framadagar“ hosted by AIESEC, an international youth leadership organisation, will take place at Reykjavik University where students can chat with companies about possible job opportunities.

Seeing opportunities in innovation

Asked if there’s an event she’s particularly excited about Jónína says it’s hard to pick out only one. “There are so many varied events but if I must mention one then it would be the opening event on 29 January at 12:00 in Gróska. The theme is: “Are you ready to innovate?” and I think it’s important for students to realise what is involved in innovation, learn about it, and discover the many opportunities it offers. We’ll get to hear from a young entrepreneur and learn what kind of support there is available for students. The icing on the cake is that various startups and innovation companies will have representatives on-site to introduce the companies and chat to students. Who knows, maybe students will find some future job opportunities.”

Check out the programme for UI Career Days on the University‘s website.