On February 15, students can gather in the HP building for IT Connections–a career fair specifically for NAIT IT students. Previously an annual event before COVID shut the club down, the latest group of executives in the Computer Technology club are resurrecting the popular career fair event to cater to a group that’s often forgotten in the networking world. “There is nothing specifically for us [IT students] at NAIT. NAIT has the big career fair [at the] end of March … they have a few for the School of Business people. There’s nothing for IT people, and there’s a big IT industry in Edmonton,” said the club’s Vice-President Operations Ralph Seibert.
The career fair will highlight local companies actively looking to hire for a wide range of technology-based positions. “Some of them are looking to hire IT administrators, some are looking to hire computer science students, programming analysts,” said VP Marketing Matthew Thiel. The club ensured that the businesses in attendance were actively looking to hire, and looking to hire IT professionals. “This is not a general career fair,” said Seibert. “Those exist already, so if you’re hiring you know, a mechanic or a baker, there’s career fairs for that … this is for IT students.” Thiel estimates each company is hiring for two to four positions, so the club expects many of the students attending will find solid leads for jobs. “We do expect a lot of these companies to actually find students and hire,” he said.
The other qualification was that the companies are hiring for local positions, so students wouldn’t be forced to move right after graduating. “That’s a huge no for a lot of students, because they’re just trying to get into work and they can’t really afford moving right now,” said Thiel.
In addition to the career fair, the Computer Technology club hosts speaker sessions, networking events and skills tutorials. “We started to bring a place where anyone with any level of technology, skill or anyone who’s just interested in technology can meet together and just learn,” explained Thiel. According to the club, many students in IT-focused NAIT programs didn’t have a place to connect with each other, despite their programs sharing similar focuses. “One of the big things we did know is when we started the club was, no program knew the other program. Like our computer engineering students didn’t know network engineering students … that was one thing we, especially me, wanted to solve with the club.”
“I want everyone to be able to go, ‘Hey, I know you,’ when they walk in the hallways.
The career fair takes place on the third floor of the HP building on February 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information, along with the list of companies presented, can be found on Ooks Life.
