#GradStories Alison Reddy, Events Coordinator, gradireland

What is your name, job title and employer?

My name is Alison Reddy and I'm the events coordinator for gradireland

What does gradireland do?

gradireland work with students and graduates in order to help them make the most informed career decisions that they can. We do this through our website, our publications and the various events that we run. We run a variety of different events throughout the year some of which are exhibition style. We would run our largest exhibition style event in October which is the gradireland Graduate Careers Fair.

We also run some smaller events such as the gradireland National Student Challenge and the gradireland Graduate Recruitment Awards which is held in April and that one is my favourite. The gradireland Graduate Careers Fair that happens in October is our largest exhibition event that we run, and it is the largest graduate exhibition that is held in the country.

The gradireland Graduate Careers Fair has actually won an award recently and for best exhibition in the event industry awards. At this event we would have over 130 exhibitors and we would attract over a thousand students and graduates on the day.

What are the main tasks you do in your job in a normal week?

My role as Events Coordinator is to assist our Events Manager Aisling, in putting together and executing the events that we run through the year.

What do you love about your job?

I love a lot of things about my job. I love my team and we're a small team of ten and everybody is always ready to give each other a hand and help each other out and we have a laugh as well. I also love the satisfaction that I get after running an event. It's great to look back at all the preparation and planning and then see how well the event has been run. My favourite thing about working in gradireland is that I can always be myself.

How did you get into your job?

I completed a BSc in event management in TU Dublin and then I worked for an events management company for three years and I was looking for a change in the types of events that I was running. Upon completing my Events Management degree, I thought that I was only going to be able to work for events management companies.

I wasn't aware that other companies such as gradireland actually have an events department and run events too. I got an email from gradireland saying that they were hiring an events coordinator in gradireland and I applied.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

One of the skills that I think is really important to have for being an offense coordinator would be communication. We work with a lot of big clients who expect a very high level of communication and organization for the events that we run so it's very important that we communicate well with them and all of the suppliers as well that we would work with so that we're all singing off the one sheet. Another skill that I think will be really important is problem-solving.

The events industry is very fast-paced, and things can happen at any point so it's very important that you're able to look at a problem with a clear head and be able to solve it in order to meet the client’s expectations. I always get nervous before an event, but I think nerves are essential to doing a good job. Another skill that is very important will be your organizational skills. There's a lot of planning that goes into the events, so you need to make sure that you're very organized and that you manage your time correctly.