Why do some students get picked before others by Event Companies during Campus Interviews?

Being a student can be a wonderful time. You meet amazing people and learn more than you could possibly have imagined. But it’s also a daunting time; countless exams and deadlines can make life stressful. But there is an additional stress still! Getting a job to make your hard work worth it and being able to pursue your dreams! And getting this job can be very competitive in the field of event management.

Getting a job almost always requires you to pass an interview, but first you must get an interview. Event management companies know that there is a lot of talent out there in colleges around the country and so they often hold a campus interview at colleges which have an event management course. This gives the company a good pool of candidates to choose from and it ensures that the college will have many of it’s graduates in jobs which they enjoy and deserve.

Although many event management companies will hold campus interviews, this doesn’t automatically mean all of the students will get a job quickly or easily. Some people will find the process very easy and get the job they want, whereas many others may find it very difficult and they don’t get the job they feel they deserve.

This can be very disheartening and make people feel like they have wasted time or done something wrong.

Why is it that some students are picked before others during campus interviews?

In this article we will explain some of these reasons and hopefully give you some tips on how to make yourself more employable for event management companies and help develop your confidence.

Confidence

As we mentioned confidence it seems appropriate to have a section on it in the article. Putting on events requires confidence, that is a fact. It doesn’t matter if they are formal corporate events in a workplace, private events such as weddings and birthdays, or huge sporting events such as cricket matches.

All of those events require confidence. As an event manager, a customer has chosen you to provide their event for them, and as such they need to trust that you know what you are doing and that you know how to execute the job well.

To understand why, imagine you are at a birthday party and there is a lot of energy and many people. And imagine you want a drink, or you need to know where the toilet is. If the workers there do not know what is going on, or they don’t tell you with confidence, then you will feel as though the event is not being managed professionally.

Event companies need managers to ensure everything is run smoothly and that the workers know what is going on all of the time. If you do not have this confidence then event companies will not want to risk their reputation on you because you could damage the brand.

To be confident requires you to know what you are talking about or what you are doing. As such if you go to a campus interview, you should make sure the event management company knows that you understand how fast-paced and stressful working events can be, especially for a manager.

You need to let them know that you want this and that you thrive under these working conditions. You also have to show them that you are confident and will be a good fit for the brand and for the clients, so you can’t be too quiet or shy in the interview.

You also have to show that you are confident organizing other people in a way that gets them to understand and do their job to ensure that the event runs smoothly. This means that you must be confident, but not arrogant, and this skill is a very fine balance.

Due to the versatility of event management you can have many different individual skills and what is very important is that you are confident in using these skills to make great events. This being said however, the event management industry is one where you need to be able to communicate effectively so having some general confidence in yourself is good and will help in interviews. Just don’t overdo it, you don’t want to seem fake!

Presentable

As an event manager you need your team to respect you and you need your client to trust you. Depending on the exact event you will be managing, you may have to wear slightly different uniform that meets the client’s needs. But no matter what the exact uniform is you will always have to be neat and tidy.

Event management is a very customer facing role and you will be dealing with clients and their customers/guests. This means you have to look presentable and professional. Imagine an event manager with ripped jeans and messy hair, they would not look good to the customers. As such you should be neat and professional for your interview. And the people who feel naturally more confident and comfortable with this look may come across as a better potential employee.

Being presentable goes beyond how you dress and stand though. You need to be able to speak well and communicate to both the teams you will be working with and to the clients you are putting on events for.

You need to be able to act professionally and know what to say in certain situations to ensure smooth running of events. People sometimes find in interviews they are not used to speaking in ways that are clear and appropriate for business and client facing settings and this can come across as unprepared or unprofessional. Ensure you know how to speak and communicate in a way that is suitable for the industry and roles you want to be employed in.

Fast Decisions

Managing events is an extremely stressful and fast-paced business. When you are managing an event 12 hours can seem to fly by in minutes. Though you plan events thoroughly, there will be times when unexpected things happen and you must act quickly and decisively to make sure the event is not disrupted.

But you must also ensure that you act professionally and keep your calm while dealing with situations.

For this reason you may be asked questions at interviews or have to do group interviews where you have to react quickly to show how you deal with pressure in certain situations.

Some people are not used to acting quickly and panic in these kind of situations. It is important to stay calm and think logically to make the best decisions. There is no point in rushing but making the wrong decision for that scenario. You gain confidence with experience in this kind of scenario so it helps to practice staying calm under timed conditions so you don’t get too flustered in interviews.

Management Course

Getting the right education and pursuing the right course is essential when ensuring you get picked by events companies at campus interviews.

If you are on a good course you will be taught all of the things mentioned above and will know how to conduct yourself in a campus interview to get a job.

At teami we are passionate about events management and we want our students to be too. We also want to ensure that they can follow a path in the career they love and be successful in doing so. As such we ensure our students are well prepared for the industry and the campus interviews to get into it.

We offer various certifications that give our students a fantastic practical understanding of the industry making them confident in themselves and their skills.

Our commitment to a thorough and practical education for our students is highlighted by the support we have from many recruiters and companies that continuously chose our students. They trust the skills we provide them with.

And finally this leads us on to partnerships. Students doing well at campus interviews will benefit greatly from partnerships with companies and recruiters. These partnerships allow our students to understand how the individual businesses work and helps them see if they are the right fit.

It also gives the company a pool of students to recruit which they trust will be talented and great employees!

Conclusion

Event management is a fast paced and extremely competitive sector and as such it can be very rewarding if done right. Many students will go on to work for fantastic events companies and many will even go to create their own.

Some will go on to be worth millions of dollars! But this requires some serious drive and commitment to constantly develop, in addition to the skills we have mentioned throughout this article.

There are countless reasons why some students get picked before others by events companies in campus interviews but the reasons in this article should give a good picture of some of the more common reasons and how having the right education and connections can significantly help you get the career in event management that you want!