Engineering students arrived at the first of the Fall 2019 Engineering Career Fairs on Wednesday with their resumes in hand and with the hope of leaving a good first impression on potential employers.

Over a hundred employers were at the career fair to recruit Iowa State engineering students from noon to 5 p.m.

Throughout the day students spoke with company representatives and presented copies of their resumes. Students could also schedule interviews with the companies, which could lead to a job, internship or co-op position.

This was the fifth career fair for Marisa Dizonno, senior in mechanical engineering. Dizonno said she loves recruiting season, despite the large amount of people. Dizonno has found a co-op in California and an internship in Wisconsin because of past career fairs.

The career fair preparation process is more thorough for Dizonno now than it was when she was a freshman, as she has learned what works best for her.

“Now I make a full on excel sheet [and] do my research for companies ahead of time so that way, when I come here, I’m not as nervous and I feel better prepared,” Dizonno said.

Paul Kiel, senior in computer engineering, has also attended several career fairs as an Iowa State student. As a senior he said he is looking to secure a job for after graduation. Kiel offered his advice of considering how the company representative perceives a student’s behavior when talking with them.

“Ask them questions about their questions because if you can’t answer it [the questions] they at least want to know that you are thinking about the questions they are asking you,” Kiel said.

This was the first career fair for Claire Palmer, sophomore in mechanical engineering. Palmer has been talking with people in the engineering learning community she is in and she researched a few companies prior to the career fair.

“I think, for my experience, I prepared enough that [I] can sit in here and still prepare and talk to another company even if [I] didn’t originally plan on talking to them.”

Palmer said her ultimate goal is to design things for a company. She said she hopes the career fair will help her accomplish her goals in the future.

“I want to be able to design things,” Palmer said. “I want to be in an atmosphere where they frequently design and they encourage it and they work as a team and just cooperate.”

The main purpose of the career fair is for students to network with companies and attempt to find an employment position.

“I showed up with 12 resumes and the plan is to get them all in someone’s hands,” Kiel said.

If students aren’t successful at finding an employment opportunity they still gain the networking experience and get to practice their speaking skills.

There will be another engineering career fair noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Scheman Building and Hilton Coliseum.