Engineering students and employers alike crowded Anderson Student Center’s James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 4. University of St. Thomas School of Engineering scholars participated in the “Meet the Engineers” Reverse Career Fair in hopes of meeting their future colleagues and employers. With over 85 companies looking to hire, the engineers were ready to meet them all.
“I have never been to a career fair before, let alone a reverse career fair, so the concept of having employers come up to me is a foreign one,” said Ryan Kappes, a third-year civil engineering major, who attended his first Meet the Engineers event this year. “That being said, it was a wonderful experience. Not only did it allow us as students to capture our qualities and share them with recruiters, but it gave us the opportunity to speak with many recruiters and companies that we might not otherwise get a chance to network with.”
Kappes shared that he was able to connect with over 12 companies about the area of work he wants to pursue, which is in industry with design and construction. “I had an interview lined up within 24 hours of the event from one of the recruiters who spoke with me,” he added.
Over 200 undergraduate engineering students and 200 company representatives registered to attend the reverse career fair.
“When I talked with employers as they were leaving the event, many shared that they were impressed with the quality, professionalism and preparedness of our students,” Amy Larsen, the event and alumni coordinator from the School of Engineering, said. “We have an incredible group of engineering students, and it was great to see them confidently conversing with all of the employers on campus.”
Representatives from companies like Boston Scientific were impressed by the engineering students. Myranda New is a mechanical engineer at Boston Scientific. This was her first year attending the Meet the Engineers career fair, and she was very exuberant about the experience.
“When I heard about the Meet the Engineers event, I was incredibly intrigued,” said New. “I had never heard of something like that before, and I needed to see how it turned out. I was absolutely amazed by the quality of students at St. Thomas!”
New mentioned that she was impressed by the work of the students and how strong the School of Engineering is. “I understand now why we have a good handful of interns come from St. Thomas, because your engineering school is next level.”
Since the event, students like Mikayla Schmidt have been hearing back from potential employers. “I’ve gotten multiple emails, and it really shows how many connections St. Thomas has with the working world. I’m so excited to be in that environment next year when I want to start my career!”
