February 26, 1998

Engineers' Council Sponsors First Engineering Career Fair

Among the stress balls, Frisbee rings, logo-splashed mouse pads, and other give-aways engineering students and industry representatives got down to business at the McKimmon Center on Wednesday, Feb. 11. The meeting was not a toy manufacturing convention, it was the first Engineering Career Fair sponsored by the NC State University Engineers' Council. Representatives from 58 companies set up booths for the day-long fair.

A steady stream of engineering students, resumes in hand, poured from shuttle buses into the McKimmon Center to discuss their future possibilities with company representatives. An estimated 1500 students attended the fair. Sasha Lanning, a textile engineering junior, and Neal Guthrie, a mechanical engineering senior, served as Career Fair co-directors. Dr. Sarah Rajala, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering, is the Engineers' Council adviser.

"We had an overwhelmingly good response from the companies," said Guthrie. "Several have commented on what a great setup we have provided and are looking forward to coming to next year's fair."

A wide range of companies attended the event, including Andersen Consulting, AT&T, Compaq, DuPont, GTE, IBM, Kimberly Clark, Lockheed Martin, Mitsubishi Semiconductor, Price Waterhouse, Sprint and Stingray, a small company started two years ago by three NC State engineering alumni.

Each exhibitor paid a $300 fee to participate. The fee covered the cost of the booth, lunch for the exhibitors and unlimited access to a pool of NC State engineering students who were interested in exploring career opportunities.

"We've discussed the possiblity of organizing a Career Fair for several years," says Guthrie, "but this year it became a reality. With the success of this year's fair, we have a good base to start planning the next one."

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