We want to meet real workers, say students

The graduates, from all over the UK, urged employers to give them the chance to talk to professionals first-hand and awarded top marks to exhibitors, like McKinsey and the Royal Bank of Scotland, who fielded non-HR staff.

&quotIt's no good just talking to the Human Resource people - helpful though they are,&quot said Tom Woods, a 21-year-old financial management student at Royal Holloway College, London. &quotThey only give you a general overview. To get some insight into what employers are like and what

working for them would be like, you have to talk to real employees about their working lives.

Amit Trehan , 20, a final year economics student at University College, London, agreed. &quotI'm interested in asset management as a career, so I want to talk to asset managers. We need more access to real people doing real jobs inside these organisations.&quot

Twenty-year-old University of Sheffield geography student, David Fletcher added: &quotThese fairs are a good opportunity to talk to people from all the different companies under one roof. The brochures and the HR people are all very well but you do need to be able to get a better insight into the culture of the organisations and that comes from talking to actual employees. There isn't enough opportunity to do that.&quot

Nearly thirty exhibitors including Arthur Andersen, Deutsche Borse, Lehman Brothers and Reuters were exhibiting at the fair at the Business Design Centre in London. It was attended by around 600 pre-selected business students, all with an interest in a financial, consultancy or IT career.