A Leeds University student has won an iPad Mini after getting the nod as the best contestant by fresh produce 'dragons' at the Fresh Careers Fair last week.
Anna Koessel, who is studying an MSc in international business, impressed the experts - nurseryman Will Sibley, recruiter Max MacGillivray and consultant Tony Ganio - during her two minute presentation to see off competition from 24 rivals.
'I am really interested in food,' she said. 'I come from a family involved in the hospitality business and I have worked on fruit farms in Australia. I really feel like this is a sector that I could get into. At the Fresh Careers Fair I have talked to Wealmoor, G's and Total Produce and I will definitely be sending out my CV and looking more into their company profiles. This has been a very useful experience and the Produce Dragons really help you reflect on your interview skills.'
There were also hospitality and catering students visiting the event and trying their hand with the dragons. 'We tried to give them a vision of something to aim for,' said MacGillivray. 'Some of them were getting little guidance from their careers officers and were not ambitious enough so we pumped up their tyres a little bit and told them to aim higher.'
Elsewhere at the event, David Hughes, emeritus professor of food marketing at Imperial College London and visiting professor at the Royal Agricultural University, addressed students in a keynote speech.
He told students about his own fresh produce career in an industry that has seen him live and work on four different continents as well as outlining the scale of the challenges and opportunities the sector faces. He advised young people to “pick an industry that makes you smile”, telling them that his chosen sector has “special characteristics” as well as “harsh realities”.
He finished by telling his audience to have a personal development plan and to “make a pact” and “pick an industry that will invest in you, and you in them”.
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