Who’s exhibiting at the gradireland fair?

Some 5,000 graduate positions are up for grabs across multiple sectors at this year’s gradireland graduate fair.

The bulk of the 120 exhibitors are made up of multinational companies including the "Big Four" – the largest accounting and auditing companies in the world – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.

Irish companies feature prominently at the fair including household names such as Aer Lingus, Dawn Meats, Dairygold and Jameson. Other Irish-based groups in attendance include Foras na Gaeilge, Ibec, Kingspan and others.

Retail

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Aldi and Lidl will be present and along with Tesco, Abercrombie & Fitch, Musgrave Group (whose brands include SuperValu, Centra, Musgrave MarketPlace and Daybreak) and Smyths Toys, and they will recruit graduates from all backgrounds.

Food

In the food sector, Irish companies including Kerry Group, Lakeland Dairies, Ornua, the aforementioned Dawn Meats will be present as will the Swiss-headquartered owner of Cuisine de France, bakery supplier Aryzta.

Financial

In addition to the so-called Big Four, other big-name companies with established graduate programmes including Accenture, Grant Thornton, Susquehanna International Group, Fidelity Investments and global investments company BNY Mellon will be in attendance. Other sectors within the wider financial area, such as business support services, will be represented by the DCC group and others. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Bank of Ireland will also be present.

Health

In the field of health, global healthcare company Abbot, medical technology company Becton Dickinson and Cork-based biopharmaceutical company BioMarin will be present. Boston Scientific (who have over 5,000 employees in Ireland) and the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) will also be present.

Tech

IBM Ireland has numerous entry-level programs available – from short-term internships, to graduate and MBA positions. Ericsson and ICT Ireland offer a one-year full-time MSc in Applied Software Engineering – which is provided free of charge to students and guarantees a job as a software engineer in Ericsson upon satisfactory completion. Intel Ireland will also be present, as will Openet, Salesforce, Three Ireland and more.

Seminars

The fair will feature some 35 seminars and talks aimed at informing graduates about everything to do with the world of work – from the application process to financial aid, digital marketing skills and funding postgraduate research to immigration rights to conversion courses and how to exploit your arts degree. Each seminar is 30 minutes long but it is worth checking the schedule to make sure you make it to the talks that interest you.

See the gradirelandwebsite for a comprehensive list of exhibitors.