Networking and Careers Fairs at Oxford and Brookes: 2026 Guide
How to make the most of careers fairs at Oxford and Oxford Brookes, plus practical networking tactics for international students who find small talk hard.
Careers fairs can feel overwhelming if you didn't grow up around them — crowded halls, confident students who seem to know every recruiter by name, and a nagging sense you should be "networking" without quite knowing what that means in practice. It's a learnable skill, and Oxford and Brookes both run enough fairs each year that you get several chances to improve.
The main fairs to know
- Oxford University Careers Service Fairs — sector-specific (Finance, Law, Consulting, Technology, Charity & Public Sector), running mainly in Michaelmas and Hilary terms, open to students across all colleges.
- Oxford Brookes Careers Fairs — run by the Brookes careers and employability team, typically in the Headington campus, with strong representation from local Oxfordshire employers as well as national graduate schemes.
- Milkround and Bright Network events — regional or online fairs that both universities' students can attend, useful if you want exposure beyond Oxford-based employers.
- Check both universities' careers service calendars each term — Brookes students can often attend Oxford University public sector-specific fairs and vice versa where events are open access.
Careers fairs aren't just for final-year students. Attending in year one or two, when there's no pressure to have an offer, is the lowest-stakes way to practise talking to recruiters and to hear about internships years before you'll need them.
Before the fair
- Check the exhibitor list in advance and pick 5–8 realistic targets rather than trying to speak to everyone.
- Prepare a 30-second introduction: course, year, one relevant interest or project, what you're looking for.
- Bring several copies of your CV, but expect most employers now to direct you to apply online — the conversation matters more than the paper.
- Prepare three genuine questions per employer type: not "what does your company do" (answerable from their website), but "what's changed most about the graduate scheme in the last two years?"
During: small talk that isn't painful
If small talk doesn't come naturally, structure helps more than charisma. Open with something observational ("Busy stand today — is this your first time at Brookes?"), ask one open question about their own path into the company, then bring it back to something specific from your CV. Recruiters spend all day repeating the same pitch; a candidate who asks about them rather than only pitching themselves stands out immediately.
Mentioning your visa route briefly and matter-of-factly — "I'm on a Student visa, moving to the Graduate visa after finishing" — is completely normal and expected; UK graduate recruiters see this constantly and it rarely affects how the conversation goes for entry-level and graduate roles.
After the fair
Connect on LinkedIn within 48 hours with a short personalised note referencing your conversation — see our LinkedIn profile guide for how to make your profile worth clicking on. If they mentioned a deadline or a specific scheme, note it and apply well before it closes; see our graduate schemes timeline guide.
Turning fair conversations into interviews
Employers do track which candidates engaged meaningfully at fairs, and some hiring managers mention memorable conversations to their recruitment teams. Bring the same energy from the fair into your written application by referencing the conversation ("Following our discussion at the Brookes fair about your data team's project work...") in your cover letter.
Our Career Hub publishes the Oxford and Brookes fair calendar each term with exhibitor lists, and our UniLife module can remind you of dates alongside your existing term schedule.
Need help arriving in Oxford?
Airport pickup, accommodation, NHS and bank setup — with live tracking for your parents.
Related guides
