Last week on October 23rd, we held the first of our two annual job and internship fairs. Companies ranging from John Deere to ComEd were in our building, all interested in offering NIU CEET students and graduates internships and jobs.
Students came dressed to impress with resumes in hand, ready to network with possible future employers. Students of all years and levels attended the fair with many freshman students from our UEET 101 class who got participation credit for going to the fair.
Of the over 36 companies in attendance, 12 immediately signed up for our spring fair. The fair not only brought companies and students together but many of the company representatives were NIU and NIU CEET alumni who were great contact points for current students.
“We really like the candidates we get from NIU so we usually come in the spring and in the fall,” said NIU alumna and Minarik Drives/American Control Electronics representative Darcy Wilson. “We’ve hired 4 people in the last year, electrical and mechanical engineers.”
Business endeavors aside, Wilson said she takes any opportunity to come back to NIU.
“I enjoy being back on campus because it brings back memories; it’s nice to keep in touch with people that are coming through college” Wilson said.
Another alumni, Dan Binger who represented Gleason Cutting Tools, said he saw some prime candidates throughout the four hours of the job fair.
“It was very a positive [experience] and as we have opportunities to fill, we will certainly come back,” Binger said.
For Binger, coming back to campus was not only brought reminiscing, but also excitement for how much the school has changed.
“It’s nice to be back, it feels a little bit like home. It’s nice, its exciting, I’ve been out of school for 14 years now so it’s good to see how the college has matured and the university has changed since then. Plus its nice to see young, new, energy in the engineering field” Binger said.
Our job fair welcomed companies that had been at previous fairs but we also had multiple new companies like Hanley, Flight & Zimmerman Law Offices and Hearthside Foods.
“We have known for a long time that NIU has been one of the best engineering schools in the state so that’s why we’re here” said Karen Mumm who is a representative for Hearthside Foods, who has already registered for the spring job fair.
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Registration is now open for the spring job fair which will take place on February 19th.
