Student
voices
While I was talking to Kenward
about the bigger picture at large,
Conference News reporter Louisa
Daley took time to speak to an
individual student, to really
understand the scale of the
uncertainty they face. Sophie
Beasor is a final-year tourism and
event management student at the
University of Westminster.
As we approach summer, final year
students should be bursting at the
seams with excitement as they
look forward to graduation,
celebrations and the prospect of
starting a new career. But then
came Covid-19, which has affected
our entire society, including the
graduates of 2020.
For Beasor, events are about
bringing people together and
through her theatre experience of
producing an indie show and
pantomime, she discovered the
satisfaction of being part of
something that impacts people.
“That feeling has never gone away
and it’s the same with events”, she
says.
Beasor situated herself in this
passion by studying in London, the
heart of our events industry. “It is
where I needed to be”, she states.
However, we all know a degree
sometimes is not enough and
employers want to see hands on
experience. So Beasor was
involved in events from the get-go,
such as The Top Secret Comedy
Club, Major League Baseball and
Tourism Week. In such a large
industry, Beasor was mindful to
“choose the right company that
people would recognise”, even if
they don’t understand what an
eventprof actually is.
Degree: check; experience:
check; what’s next? Beasor reveals
“the plan was to sell myself
everywhere”, so she applied to over
200 jobs to avoid being limited to
one sector of the industry. Talk
about student determination. This
welcomed a line-up of 15
interviews, which were
unfortunately cancelled due to the
pandemic. Aside from salary goals,
Beasor planned to be on a 30
under Thirty list, as it is not only a
recognisable achievement, but a
tangible one, she says.
Unexpectedly, Beasor’s plans,
like many students, had changed.
Now those ambitions are replaced
by a “real tangible fear of what will
happen between now and getting a
job” she states. With news stories
changing overnight, the timeframe
appears to be longer than students
had first anticipated.
In the meantime, students are
Above: Sophie
Beasor, tourism and
event management
student, University
of Westminster
25
struggling. Employment
With no
student loan for
financial support, alongside a lack
of part-time jobs due to closures,
students will be competing with
“two waves of graduates and
everybody who has lost their job
due to the coronavirus”, Beasor
argues. This ultimately raises the
question of whether will three
years of work be enough.
Despite these fears, it is
important to remain optimistic.
Student talent is not wasted,
Covid-19 has simply “put plans on
hold, not destroyed them”, Beasor
reassures. She adds that “our
economy relies on events and
tourism to be the multi-cultural
hub of London and the UK that we
are”. So, for now, it’s just a
temporary setback and that
dream job is still achievable with
the right government support and
work ethic.
After all, there is a “real value to
students as we’re totally
malleable” Beasor highlights.
When our society return to
normality, it will be the students
who only know events in a post
coronavirus industry.
The students will become the
teachers and with that, Beasor
hopes that the student community
can become “pioneers of this new
world”.
www.conference-news.co.uk