Fall Recruiting Showcase brings top employers to campus – St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College’s Piper Center for Vocation and Career hosted its annual Fall Recruiting Showcase on September 22, welcoming recruiters from 28 organizations eager to present their unique opportunities to Oles.

Every fall, companies flock to college campuses to recruit for corporate-related internships and jobs. For students, this often means juggling numerous informational sessions, meetings, and networking obligations. 

“One of the things that we have found is that fall is when large corporate organizations descend on campus in earnest,” says Piper Center Director Kirsten Cahoon ’98. “We were having all of these one-off information sessions where students would have to come every day of the week to learn about a business and do the networking.”

To streamline the process, the Piper Center launched the Fall Recruiting Showcase, providing students with an opportunity to connect with multiple employers in one night — making it a much better fit for the busy schedule of the typical Ole.

“The goal is to do it in an efficient way, something that is a good use of students’ time,” Piper Center Senior Director Bryan Shealer, a key coordinator in this event, explains. “If you can imagine having to go to 25 different info sessions, that wouldn’t be possible for most students. This is an opportunity to get it all in one night for students.”

The showcase consists of two main parts: recruiter presentations and recruiter tabling. As part of the presentations, recruiters — from organizations like 3M, Best Buy, General Mills, Epic and more — have three minutes to provide students with information about their organization, their company culture, and the available roles and opportunities for interested students. 

“We think this [format] provides a more efficient way to hear from the employers first,” Shealer explains. “Then you can, from there, decide which employers make sense to talk to.”

To maximize the effectiveness of this event, the Piper Center partners with Carleton College’s Career Center. 

“This is a great way to get some really top employers to come to campus because we have the power of two high-performing institutions,” Cahoon notes.

The best part about the Fall Recruiting Showcase is that this event isn’t limited by class year — any Ole can attend. Piper Center staff encourage first-years, sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in business to make connections with St. Olaf’s top employers. 

“They’re having meaningful conversations about their career interests, learning how to put their best foot forward in their applications by talking to alumni, and, hopefully, following through with those relationships and with those applications,” Shealer says. “Another important goal is for students — particularly first-year and second-year students — to explore. Ideally, we’d love a first-year or a sophomore to be there, to be hearing what’s possible, both for the benefit of their own career exploration and what they might want to do, but also so that they can look ahead to what’s possible in the future.”

In addition to making professional connections, the showcase provides students with a comfortable environment to practice networking. Many of the recruiters are alumni, who desire to help further the skills and careers of Oles, so students don’t have to worry about asking the wrong questions or giving incorrect answers.

“Another goal of the showcase is to give students practice talking to people, in a place where it’s okay if you make a mistake or if you’re nervous,” Shealer adds. “There’s also a number of Piper Center coaches there so that students, if they are not sure what to do or they’re having trouble, we’re there to help — the energy is really positive and welcoming, so I think most students feel really comfortable in that setting.”

At least 158 St Olaf students attended the Fall Recruiting Showcase, and every class year had a strong presence. They expressed a desire to connect with employers, network, and discover opportunities in their fields. 

“I’m just trying to get my feet wet, see what opportunities there are out there, and solidify what career role I want,” says Mitch Thronson ’28.

Economics major Willy Johnson ’29 enjoyed networking with employers.

“Just making a lot of connections with the people at companies can only help you grow,” he says.

Mathematics major Berit Borgnes ’27 left feeling energized and ready to delve deeper into her desired career field.

“I feel more empowered to apply to places and explore my other options and other Piper Center career help,” Borgnes says.

For seniors like political science and economics major Ed Nazaryan ’26, the event provided a chance to explore the postgraduate career prospects. 

“I’m excited about postgraduate employment opportunities, and this is a great way to explore that further,” Nazaryan explains. “I’m a peer advisor, too, at the Piper Center, so it is always helpful when students come with a degree of preparation and understanding of what they can expect from the job market.”

Employers loved the opportunity to connect with Oles just as much.

“What I love about Oles is [that] the liberal arts teaches you how to learn, and that continuous learning mindset serves Oles incredibly well in a corporate environment,” says Jane Meyer ’14 from General Mills.

Mindy Deardurff from Best Buy adds, “We really appreciate the wide variety of majors that students come from, and the connection of what you’re passionate about, attached to a functional major.”

Employers tabling at the showcase encouraged students to take advantage of the connections they make at career events like this.

“It’s hard to land an internship, it’s hard to land a job,” says Andy Tangen from Sherwin Williams. “At the end of the day, it’s how can you make your name or your resume stand out — and oftentimes it’s these interactions and career fairs.”

The fall recruiting season is only just beginning, and the Piper Center encourages students to act quickly.

“Reflect, organize, take action, and get support,” Shealer urges. “These employers are moving quickly, and so even if there’s an expiration date on Handshake that’s further in the fall, most of the time employers are considering candidates on a rolling basis. The longer you wait, the more disadvantaged your application might become.”

To help students stay competitive, the Piper Center offers career coaching, job and internship fairs, alumni networking events, career panels, and more. 

“We hope that the showcase and our other programming is a way to level the playing field, to try and make sure that all students — regardless of their background — have access to people that can help them engage with, apply to, and hopefully be successful with employers,” Shealer says. “The number of people applying for opportunities is increasing, and the use of AI in creating application documents and reviewing them is increasing, so it’s making it more important than ever that students are able to leverage human connections — even if it’s as simple as getting really good information on how to frame your resume or write the cover letter, or what to say in an interview. It’s our way of trying to leverage the Ole network to benefit as many students as possible.”

Cahoon adds: 

“Our job and internship fairs, Connections Programs — where we go and do career treks to different cities or to different companies that students might be interested in — career panels, one-on-ones, alumni week, and career coaching, all of these are opportunities for Oles to connect, gather information, and launch the Fall Recruiting process,” she says. “It may seem really early in the year, but these offerings really jump-start and activate students who are interested in employment after graduation to learn about what they need to do for the rest of the year, or even over the next several years. At the end of the day, I just want to invite all students to drop by the Piper Center, and explore how we might best help them achieve their career goals.”