‘ Shriram Anhalagan
COPY EDITOR

Over one hundred company recruit-
ers stationed their stalls over at the Hermann
Hall lounge, ballroom and auditorium. The
companies ranged mainly in the engineer-
ing genre like the previous fairs with the big
names: Google, Motorola Mobility, Skidmore
Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Here (Nokia).

Student assistants and staff from the
Career Management Center (CMC) helped the
companies set up their respective stalls, with
each one having an average of two recruiting
staff. Each table was embellished with products
of the company, roles available, majors being
hired, and giveaway goodies. The spotlight of
the fair was undoubtedly on Google. In fact,
the three recruiters who had come were IIT
alumni.

The CMC had organized several
pre-fair prep events from Ianuary 8, onwards,

ranging from “The Art of Networking,” and.

“Resume Tips” to “Linkedln tips.” Bonnie Rob-
inson, a professional photographer, also took
professional pictures for students at the MTCC
Welcome Center for free.

Peter Olson, a fourth-year computer

Student newspaper oflllinois Institute of Technology since 1928

Companies recruit at Spring Career Fair

science student, was satisfied with this semes—
ter’s career fair. He says there were many com-
panies in the computer science major and it
seemed more comprehensive than the last year,
although he found the whole process of wait-
ing for hours in line and answering questions
an exhausting task. One negative aspect of the
fair, he claims, was the CMC website, which
did not provide a way for him to filter the list
of companies in terms of either full-time or
intern options. He had to export the data to a
spreadsheet and do the filtering manually. He
will be graduating this semester and hopes that
the CMC website incorporates a detailed filter-
ing mechanism to make students’ job search
easier. Olson personally preferred established
startups to work in, as they are a great place to
grow and learn, according to him.
Architectural firms and companies
were larger in number compared to the last ca-
reer fair. Advaith Bhaskar, a second-year archi—
tecture graduate student, said, “This time the
fair was satisfactory with the main attraction
being SOM, a design firm which hires even in-
ternational students.” He claimed that the pre-
viously held fair exclusively for the architecture
majors was obv‘wusly more eaptivating. Bhas-
kar went on to say that ‘only eight firms were

 

in the core design category while the rest were
construction firms focusing on other majors.
He said, “The quality of the firms was very high
this time.”

Another architecture student, Ga-
briel Espinoza, an undergraduate, pointed out
that none of the firms had any sort of presenta-
tion prior to or on the day of the fair. He pre—
fers that the companies portray their needs and
roles a little better with specifics like success
rates and openings. He went on to mention
that, although the CMC has a lot of pre-career
events, they could have been better publicized.

Hardware engineers had a lot to
rejoice about at this career fair as well, as sev-
eral hardware-based companies specializing
in chip design and embedded engineering vis-
ited the campus for recruitment. They offered
both full-time positions as well as internships.
AVG automation, a well-established company,
sought out candidates in the field of power
electronics. Several electrical engineering ma-
jors were asked to write a screening test fol-
lowed by an interview on campus.

A lot of alumni were seen at the fair
as well, standing in line, applying for positions
amongst other students. One such person was
Ara Mcwen, a marketing and communica-

technewsiit.com

OPINION 2
CAMPUS 3
A8E 4-5
SLIPSTICK 6
SPORTS 7

tions specialist who graduated with a Masters
in Information Technology and Management.
She had over 15 years of experience and a very
unique resume’ combining website design and
communication. She was waiting in a long line
for a chance to showcase her acquired skills to
the Google recruiters.

Mcwen said, “I am looking to com-
bine traditional skills of writing and marketing
with computer skills.” Upon being asked how
she graded the career fairs at IIT over the years,
she replied, “I am always thrilled and happy
about the career fairs organized here. They are
always diverse and well attended.”

While speaking to one of the compa-
nies at the fair, Marathon Petroleum Corpora—
tion, the other side of the veil was revealed. The
hiring manager at Marathon perceived IIT as
a great host, with the candidates always being
well—prepared. However, he went on to say that
some of them are over zealous and it’s very im-
portant to cut the line between being friendly
and over excited. His specific piece of advice
was, “Hey! Come give me a firm hand shake,
but don’t break my arm.”

 

Photos by Katy Banks