Several OSU Institute of Technology alumni, now representing industry partners, returned to campus to talk with students about internships and job prospects at Tuesday’s Fall Career Fair.
Lori Willis, who graduated in August 2016 with a Bachelor of Technology in Instrumentation Engineering, was one of the first interns at Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s Jenks facility and now works there in the electrical maintenance department.
She was excited to come back to OSUIT Tuesday to talk with students and find the next group of interns for the facility at the Fall Career Fair.
“It’s awesome. OSUIT contributed so much to my career. I was president of the [OSUIT chapter of] International Society of Automation. I went to all these career fairs,” Willis said. “I know how much networking means to students. I can tell them exactly what they can expect when they’re out there.”
This fall’s career fair was aimed at students in Construction Technologies, Energy Technologies, Engineering Technologies, Information Technologies and Visual Communications.
Around 60 representatives from 23 companies in those industries were on hand to meet and talk with more than 270 students looking for internship or employment opportunities.
One of those was Lindsey Williams, a Pipeline Integrity student.
“It’s been a really good day. I’ve already got an interview scheduled tomorrow morning with Phillips 66. Several other companies have asked for my resume,” said Williams, who went to the career fair looking for internships opportunities. “I love it. The career fair is really beneficial. It gives us the opportunity to meet people we never would get to meet otherwise.”
The chance to network with representatives from industry was something Instrumentation Engineering student Karley Dobson couldn’t pass up.
“I knew there were a bunch of companies I would work at. It gives me a chance to meet them, see their face and to let them meet me and see my face,” Dobson said. “It opens your eyes to what you’ll be and what you can do.”
Rachel Dionne, project engineer at Manhattan Construction Co., said she was talking to students about possible internships.
“Construction Management students, that’s the best fit for us,” said Dionne, who herself is an OSUIT Construction Management graduate and interned at Manhattan Construction before her graduation in August 2015.
“Out of my class, four of us interned at Manhattan, and all four of us were hired here,” she said, and being a former student, she can relate to those on the other side of the table. “I’ve been in their shoes. I remember being in their shoes, and I can communicate with them.”