Fairs help students find career opportunities
Major companies based around the world came to USU’s Tech Expo on Tuesday in search of students majoring in engineering, science, math and business.
Each year, USU students are given the opportunity to make face-to-face contact with representatives from several corporations. Hundreds of potential internships and job possibilities were presented to USU students seeking careers in technical fields.
Kenny Bennett, a representative from Hill Air force Base, said he loves to hire USU students.
“We come to USU in search of the best engineers in the country,” Bennett said. “They have one of the best space dynamics labs we have seen in years. Hiring 20-30 students per year from USU, this Tech Expo is something we value coming to.”
Local and internationally based companies prepared informational booths to inform USU students about technical careers. Goldman Sachs and Company, Icon, Google, L-3 Communications, Yesco Electronics, Micron, Monsanto and the US Navy were among those attending the expo. Emphases in agriculture, finance, electronics, and exercise equipment were among the career fields showcased.
Many of the same companies come to USU’s Tech Expo year after year to recruit top quality, dependable students who are ready for the technical world. Nucor, a steel manufacturing company, has been represented by employees at the event for the last six years.
“We feel that being local and being able to offer a career in a competitive field makes us especially attractive to USU students,” said Wes Frampton, a Nucor employee. “We find just what we are looking for every year.”
For other companies, this was their first year attending the Tech Expo. Travis LeGrande from Big West Oil said USU’s Tech Expo is a way businesses get their name out and make students aware of the opportunities technical fields have to offer. Small local companies as well as large industrial companies came for the first time to USU.
“The expo is mostly networking,” said Lanetta Sova, a junior majoring in electrical engineering major. “It helps me get my name and face out there to prospecting employers. Today I have made some good contacts and I am going to email and apply to the ones that seemed most interested.”
Students from different majors took the opportunity to network last Tuesday. Jonathan Schultz, was assigned by his professor to attend the expo. Schultz, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, said he found even though he wasn’t on the market for a job, he was provided valuable information about things that interested him.
“I have a good job right now, but this Tech Expo is very helpful to students that are looking for careers in engineering and science,” Schultz said.
Students also had the opportunity to host an employer by providing them information about the building, offering to give them a lunch break, and by watching their booth and following up with the employee.
– leannfox@aggiemail.usu.edu