Ashfield Meetings & Events welcome largest intake of students in seventh year of undergraduate placement scheme

Ashfield Meetings & Events, the largest full service event management agency specialising in serving the healthcare sector, has this month welcomed its largest intake of students to its highly successful university placement scheme.

The scheme, now in its seventh year, provides undergraduates with the opportunity to blend their educational theory with vocational insight and experiences through a year-long work placement at the company. It’s gained a reputation for being one of the best in the industry thanks to its global reach, breadth of event types and award-winning training programme.

In March, students from various universities across the UK were invited to Ashfield Meetings & Events’ headquarters in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, to take part in a rigorous assessment process. During their visit, the students gained insight into the business, had a tour of the facilities and participated in group exercises, Q&As and individual presentations.

Seven students were selected for this year’s scheme – the largest intake to date, reflecting both Ashfield’s continued growth and its dedication to training the next generation of event planners. The seven will now join various departments across the company to play integral roles within their subsequent teams.

The students selected were; Emma Preston (Sheffield Hallam University), Nadine Thring (University Of Plymouth), Catriona Dick (Sheffield Hallam University), Jemma Aylesbury (Sheffield Hallam University), Grace Tufnell (Leeds Beckett University) join the agency as Project Administrators whilst Skye Peat (Sheffield Hallam University) joins as a Venue Sourcing Administrator and Ellie Taylor (University Of Lincoln) joins as Junior 3D Designer.

Helen Capelin (Head of Operational Excellence) said “We recognise that although the academic background is important, employees learn vital skills ‘on the job’. Our undergraduates completed a week long induction where they all demonstrated their enthusiasm and eagerness for joining our agency and industry, so we’re very pleased to offer these valuable placements to these lucky candidates.”

“We collaborated with Sheffield Hallam University earlier this year to give students insight into our business and the process of competing for new business in the events industry,” Helen continues. “It was fantastic seeing how engaged and enthused the students were during the project and of course, even more so having them pro-actively apply for a placement year with us.”

In addition to the new recruits, Ashfield Meetings & Events has recently welcomed back previous placement student Rebecca Crabbe as Project Executive. Six others have also returned to full-time permanent roles after completing their university studies since launching the scheme.

Helen Capelin commented: “It is a huge compliment to the company and the scheme to see students re-join our agency after they finish their studies. We’re thrilled Rebecca has returned and we look forward to helping her flourish within our organisation.”

Ashfield Meetings & Events and its sister brand SPARK THINKING continue to place a strong emphasis on connecting and strengthening relationships with academic institutions. Earlier this year, the agency also launched its ‘SPARK Inspo Club’, a joint initiative with a Nottingham-based primary school which aims to encourage the creative confidence of Year 6 pupils.

Helen Capelin adds: “We pride ourselves on delivering flawless meetings and events on a global basis and exposing our know-how to the students will be instrumental to their future careers in event management. But the scheme is also hugely beneficial to us as a business. We encourage our undergraduates to share their recent learnings, new ideas and fresh approaches to event planning, and it’s this that enables us to stay at the cutting edge of the industry for our clients.”

For more information about Ashfield Meetings & Events go to ashfieldmeetings.com