Connor Greca, a chemical engineering major at Michigan Technological University, speaks with Ryan Legato of General Motors at Tuesday’s fall Career Fest. This year’s fair drew 387 companies, including General Motors, which returned to the fair for the first time since 2018. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)
HOUGHTON — Michigan Technological University held its largest career fair yet at the Student Development Complex Tuesday.
There were 387 companies registered for the fall Career Fair, filling 415 tables, said Cody Kangas, Tech’s executive director of career services.
“This is a record-breaking year for sure,” he said. “And the quality, the richness, the depth of what they are looking for, and where these companies are coming from, it’s pretty cool.”
The Multi-Purpose Room housed about 50 of the university’s strategic partners, including companies such as Boston Scientific, which is looking for biomedical engineering students, and General Motors, which is back on campus for the first time since 2018.
Other companies were housed on the floor and balcony of the SDC Gym.
Michigan Technological Universities talk with companies in the balcony of the SDC Gym during Tuesday’s fall Career Fair. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)
It’s not just large companies: Of the ones there Tuesday, 100 companies had 100 or fewer employees, Kangas said. To help find the right balance of industries and company sizes, Tech advertises through its Handshake platform, which reaches 80,000 companies, Kangas said. They also work with partners across campus to find companies that might be looking for specific kinds of talent in each department.
“Every college on campus is represented in some capacity,” Kangas said. “Obviously, there’s a heavy lean of engineering and computing, but by and large, there is a very wide swath of companies here, and they’re looking across the board, looking at business, they’re looking at engineering, they’re looking in the sciences.”
Tech’s trying to pull in as many employers as possible from Michigan and the greater Midwest. Kangas showed a display with a heat map of locations showing dark reds in Detroit, the Twin Cities and Green Bay.
The wide range of companies drew an equally wide array of students. Nearly 40% of campus had pre-registered for the fair, Kangas said. Once the doors opened, it took 17 minutes for the assembled students to pass through.
“Our students are wanting fulfilling careers,” he said. “They’re wanting to leave with their degree, get that credential, and hit the ground running. And our employers, time and time again, continue to tell us that Michigan Tech talent is industry-ready.”
That was the case with Zekelman Industries, a Chicago-based steel company whose recent projects include the Sphere in Las Vegas and the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium. The company was at the fair for the first time, deciding to become a gold sponsor.
They’ve been doing a lot with automation, robotics and programmable logic controllers, putting them “in desperate need of Tech students,” said Andrea Seymour, vice president of talent acquisition.
Their first experience with Tech came last summer, with an intern who did “phenomenal” work with automation at one of the company’s oldest manufacturing plants.
“He actually automated a very difficult process for us using scrap materials that we had on site,” Seymour said. “We found out that he was a Michigan Tech student, and so we reached out to the university, and we’re like, ‘We need more. How many more of them do you have? We need more.’”
It’s an “ideal demographic” for Zekelman, full of the electrical engineering and mechatronics students the company is seeking, Seymour said.
“Those are exactly the type of people that we’re looking forward to be the future of our company,” she said. “These are the students we want to get in front of. We want them to have long careers with us and take us to the next level.”
Klarissa Peters, a first-year chemical engineering student, came to get experience and get her nerves down for the next time she comes back, and also to build relationships with employers.
She had a promising encounter with Sappi Paper and also has an interview lined up with Shawano Paper.
For her first fair, Peters prepared extensively. She went to all the Career Services events, and practiced her elevator pitch with her friends “multiple, multiple, multiple times.”
Once she figured out which companies she wanted to approach, she did in-depth research on them and figured out what things might entice them to want her for a position.
Peters’ Sappi interview came after they spotted the chemical engineering major on her badge and approached her.
“That one was out of the blue,” she said. “I was not prepared for that, but I liked it.”
For next year, Peters plans to hone in more on her specific interests as she figures out her career path. But this one wasn’t as intimidating as Peters had feared.
“I really haven’t talked to any of the major ones yet, but the smaller companies, they’re here to talk, they’re happy to be here, and they’re actually pretty nice, so you don’t have to be that afraid,” she said.