MNSU hosts first career fair for students in Computer Information Science
Olayinka Gbolahan
Staff Writer
Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Career Development Center hosted the 2019 Career and Internship fair for careers in Computer Information Science in partnership with Computer Infor-mation Science Department Tuesday.
The day kicked-off with an information session with Dr. Sarah Kruse, an associate professor and the internship coordinator of the department. Dr. Kruse talked about what student should expect and how they should conduct themselves at the fair.
There was also an organized mock interview and resume review session to help prepare the stu-dents for the career fair. From an account of a student, the resume review was the best session before the career fair because it helped him present his best attributes towards the companies.
Furthermore, it also featured career information events from Maverick Software Consulting and Easy Automation.
At the Maverick Software Consulting information session, Chuck Sherwood, the vice president of the company and other representatives, gave attendees information about what the company is about and the benefits they pose to student.
Sherwood emphasized on the technical career skill training this experience brings with real world software development and testing in partnership with Thomson Reuters – the concept of au-tomation testing, the networking and support with career leaders and a flexible schedule that teaches time management.
He also said that what is most expected from students is a willingness to learn because technical skills can be trained in.
At the Easy Automation Session, representatives from the company talked about their values and history of the family owned company. They elaborated on what they are about and gave examples of some of their current projects like a farm level feed mill software.
Thereafter, they presented the employment opportunities available which includes and not limited to program developer, tester, software engineers, welders, laser operator, wiring, sales management and administration.
They expanded on the duties and responsibilities of a software test developer intern which are test environment documentation, familiarize with the software, develop test plans and automated tests and most importantly, ask questions.
Finally, for the highlight of the evening, one would expect a crowded room of unorganized des-perate student looking for jobs, but that was not the case. The companies had predetermined table setting, which allowed student to navigate through the room with the handed map.
The students were in queues to speak with respective representatives of the company. They had the opportuni-ties to say their elevator pitch, submit their resume and other related documents, apply for an op-portunity they are interested in and ask question in order to know more about the company.
For most students that attended, it is important to know regardless of the outcome that it is a learning experience and being hopeful and encourage is important to forge ahead.
Header photo from Reporter Archives.