Career Fair a Success

Over 170 companies sent representatives to Michigan Tech's winter career fair, held on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Approximately 120 of these companies requested interview spaces for Feb. 21 and 22, totaling 1,600 interview slots.

Jim Turnquist, director of the Career Center, reported that the companies were impressed with the 2,500 students who attended the career fair. The turn-out was significantly larger than the representatives encountered at other major universities. Furthermore, Turnquist says the companies were impressed at how well prepared, well dressed and serious the students were.

Among the recruiters at the career fair was the Department of Defense. Through the department's STAR program, a Michigan Tech student serves as an on-campus recruiter, and as a result an impressive number of students to the booth. Students waited about 20 minutes to talk to one of the two DOD representatives. "They were very impressed with the number of students who came to the booth," Turnquist said. It is estimated that nearly 360,000 positions will open within the DOD in the next few years. This year, only Michigan Tech is participating in the STAR program, but that is anticipated to change as word of the program's success spreads to other schools.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.