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Looking to the future

Thousands attend Fall Career Fair

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Technological University's Fall Career Fair Tuesday at the SDC attracted 400 companies, 1100 recruiters and more than 4,000 Tech students hoping to take the next step in their academic and professional graduate careers. This year, Michigan Tech alumni who now work for companies across the country said they’re seeing the best and brightest come out of Michigan Tech.

MTU Executive Director of Career Services Cody Kangas said everyone involved in making the fair happen, from the students, recruiters, pep band and staff, were all on their A-game Tuesday. "There's so much positive energy and momentum right now," he said. "This is one of the largest events we've ever had."

Students had to navigate through hundreds of tables in the Multipurpose Room and Varsity Gym, as well as interact with the vast array of recruiters for engineering, computing, environmental and other types of positions. Kangas said Tech students take this as a challenge they are ready to navigate. "Our student body, they don't run away from challenges," he said. "They [recruiters] know Michigan Tech is a hard school. President Koubek puts it well: our Huskies, they run to the problems. They run to the challenges."

Students entered the multipurpose room at noon to kick off the event. They were guided in by the Huskies Pep Band. Once inside, Huskies sprawled across the main room to meet with all types of employers. From local businesses like UP.net, to heavy-hitters in the Metro-Detroit area, like General Motors.

Vickie Streberger, one of ten recruiters at the GM table, said Michigan Tech has left a long-lasting impact on her and the crew there Tuesday.

"Our whole team is comprised of alumni, so we know how important it is to get this education from Michigan Tech," she said. "We have 1,300 [MTU] alumni at GM. So, that's the biggest concentration of alumni at any one company. We've got a lot of good reputation that we want to continue to keep and that's by finding really great talent here."

The first one through the double doors was fifth-year senior Brock Maloney, who said he was in the SDC since 8:15 a.m. and had traveled from his co-op in Texas to be here. "I couldn't sleep," he said. "I got a set plan. I got a strategy that I don't want to share too much about, but I'm looking forward to implementing it, talking to these employers and hopefully getting some interviews and some jobs."

Local companies like OHM Advisors in Hancock want to pitch themselves to students as well. Director of Michigan Municipal for OHM Jessica Waters said engineers are needed everywhere, including in the Keweenaw. "There's a need for quality engineering all over. You have to have a local presence to have that face-to-face communication and we appreciate building relationships locally with our constituents that we designed for."

ITC Holdings Corp. in Novi, Mich. had half a dozen recruiters in its area at the fair. Matt Rudy, a Michigan Tech alumni who works at ITC, said the transmission company is looking for interns, co-ops and future full-time employees to be stationed in places like Novi, as well as Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"We look for the brightest kids across the country and we know Michigan Tech has had a legacy of producing really smart students," he said. "We appreciate the partnership with Michigan Tech and hope to continue to do that for years to come."

Outside of the multipurpose room, mechanical engineering senior Domenic Buzzelli said he is looking to use his college and prior work experience to land himself a job when spring comes around.

"I've got interest all over the place," he said. "I've worked with drones, I've worked with cars -- my field of interest is all over the place. I'm looking just to see how I can fit into other companies and what they're looking for."

When asked about his chances Tuesday, Buzzelli said it really isn’t up to him. "The Lord knows that one, not me."