Around 450 students met with more than 120 potential employers at the 25th annual MTI Job Fair Thursday. MTI’s Janet Greenway says the event is divided into two parts. “We had an energy job fair in the morning that targets our powerline, wind and sub-station technologists,” said Greenway. “Then we had the campus-wide job fair in the afternoon for all the other programs.” She says the number of employers and the number of students just became too overwhelming for the one facility.
MTI helps the students prepare for the job fair in a number of ways including technical writing classes, a career readiness course for second-year students and workshops in the classrooms.
A number of employers conducted on-site interviews as well.
The first Mitchell Technical Institute job fair was 25 years ago, and Julie Hart Schutte was there. “We started our first job fair in 1994,” Hart-Schutte said. “We didn’t have nearly as many employers as we have here today, but we got it started and it’s grown, and grown and grown over the 25 years.”
Potential employers are eager to visit with the students. Tanya Shafer with the Rapid City-Pierre Eastern railroad says there’s plenty of opportunities with her company starting with two mechanic positions at the Huron facility and more. “We have some bridge crew people that we need to help work on our structures and bridges across this (rail) road,” said Shafer. “As well as some track laborers to help inspect track, look at track, weld track.”
She says the R-C-P-E is also joining the “double-edge” program which partners with the “build Dakota” scholarship.
Shafer says the railroad is growing and is looking forward to helping students with scholarships and internships into the future.