So successful has a school’s annual Careers Day become that 60 organisations will be arriving there today to show students what opportunities are available.

Sir John Lawes (SJL) will host organisations such as the BBC, Clydesdale Bank, Ernst & Young, John Lewis, HSBC, Thomson Airways, Oxfam and Warner Bros at the Careers Day which will also be attended by the Mayors of St Albans and Harpenden.

Other schools including St George’s and Roundwood Park in Harpenden, the Samuel Ryder Academy in St Albans and Bushey Academy will be sending students which will swell the numbers to over 500.

The objective of the day is to educate students about the post A-level employment options that are available, ranging from school leaver and higher level apprenticeship programmes to graduate entry schemes.

The increase in university fees has seen a change in emphasis with more companies introducing alternatives to their traditional graduate level recruitment streams, which run parallel but demand a high calibre A-level entry requirement.

Some SJL students have been successfully recruited to these programmes and now act as advocates for their employers to advertise the alternative to post-graduate entry.

One such was SJL student Sophie Roche who joined KPMG directly from her A-levels, is salaried and KPMG pay for her to undertake their sponsored university degree in accountancy.

* Samuel Ryder Academy (SRA) is one of 15 schools in the country to work closely with professional services firm Deloitte to provide its Year 11 and sixth form students with careers advice and support.

Staff from Deloitte’s St Albans office have been visiting the Academy to impart knowledge and share their experiences.

So far 26 Deloitte employees have taken part in the programme and there are four more meetings planned this year including regular mentoring sessions and an event targeted at raising the aspirations of young women and providing them with professional role models.