Photography - Soozana Pvan

Over 100 Tamil students and top professionals from several key industries came together for the UK Tamil Students Union's (UK TSU) careers event - Careers Network 2014 on October 30.
 
Part of UKTSU's Careers Development Scheme, the event which was launched last year, offers aspiring school students one to one mentorship for UCAS applications, careers talks at schools throughout London and one to one interview preparation.

Over 30 professionals from UKTSU’s network attended the event to provide free advice, work placement opportunities and CV guidance to the students. There were representatives from medicine, dentistry, science, research, finance, business, IT, engineering and law, including top companies such as ATOS, Duncan Lewis and TFL.

"Achieving your dream job and climbing the career ladder takes more than good grades, intelligence and passing exams, your experience, knowledge of what recruiters are looking for and the people who help you along the way is just as important," Jananni Balaskandan, UKTSU's Careers Event coordinator, and student at the Imperial College London.

"As ever we've tried to pull all our resources and contacts together to hold this event to provide the Tamil youth with exactly that, and the feedback from the students has been great" she added. 

Bustling with students keen to excel in their chosen professions as well as those looking for inspiration, the event provided a great networking opportunity for all who attended and many left with direct contacts and opportunities for work placements as well as clear guidance on their career path.

"We believe supporting our youth is an investment worth making. Many Tamil students have the intelligence, determination and talent to succeed in their chosen field but often struggle because they don’t have the connections, the inside information or the opportunity to talk to those who have succeeded," Ms Balaskandan said.

UKTSU, a registered charity in the UK, undertakes humanitarian and livelihood projects in the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka, with many students and professionals in the UK getting involved.

"As part of our ethos of empowering Tamil youth, we strongly believe in supporting students here in the UK. It is as equally important as the future of Tamil students back home, which our other projects focus on," Ms Balaskandan added.