By TYLER ELLYSON
UNK Communications
KEARNEY – The competition inside the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Health and Sports Center looked a lot different Thursday.
Instead of athletes battling for points, around 130 employers were vying for the attention of UNK students during the biannual Career and Internship Fair.
Company banners and recruitment displays filled the arena, where Lopers dressed in business attire moved from table to table, shaking hands, exchanging resumes and discussing their futures with potential employers.
Organized by UNK Academic Advising and Career Development, the event gave 531 students a chance to meet with representatives from a wide range of industries, including construction, accounting, finance, law, healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, technology, government and nonprofit organizations.
Employers were recruiting for internships, full-time positions and other opportunities, while students got to explore different careers and develop professional connections.
“UNK students are in high demand, and employers demonstrate that by dedicating their time and resources to recruiting students at our fair,” said Emily Beaman, assistant director of career development. “Employers consistently tell us they are impressed by how prepared, confident and well-spoken UNK students are.”
Back where it began
Cade Nicol knows what can happen when a student stops by the right table.
The Kearney native graduated from UNK in spring 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in construction management. Before completing his degree, he connected with Ames Construction at a campus career fair, leading to a summer internship with the company.
That internship took him to the mountains of Colorado, where he worked on a project to widen a stretch of Interstate 70. He joined Ames Construction full time after graduation and currently works as a project engineer based in Denver.
On Thursday, Nicol was back at UNK, this time on the other side of the recruiting table.
Representing the Minnesota-headquartered company, which specializes in heavy civil and industrial construction projects, Nicol was primarily looking for interns, though full-time positions were also a possibility.
He sees internships as an important step toward a career, allowing students to gain practical experience while determining whether a company and industry are a good match.
“You get that experience that employers are looking for,” he said.
Nicol returns to his alma mater twice a year for career fairs, and his employer has a good reason for continuing to recruit Lopers.
“UNK just has good students and good value. Apparently the company sees value in me, so they want to see if they can find another version of me,” he said with a laugh.
The UNK construction management program boasts a 100% job placement rate for graduates, and that demand was evident during the career fair. More than 20 construction companies were represented at the event.
“This entire row is all construction companies,” Nicol noted. “UNK clearly has a strong program if there are this many construction companies here trying to recruit.”
Returning to campus also gives Nicol a chance to reconnect with the program that prepared him for his career.
“It’s fun to see how the program has grown and changed in just the few years since I’ve been gone,” he said.
A foot in the door
UNK senior Quin Karas has made career fairs a regular part of his college experience.
The Papillion native has attended the events since his freshman year, although his motivation has changed considerably during that time.
“At first, it kind of started out as coming to get free stuff,” he said with a laugh. “Then I started actually looking for internships, talking to people and networking. You see a lot of the same people at each career fair, so you can build that connection with them.”
Those conversations have already produced results for Karas, who’s studying business administration with emphases in supply chain management and marketing and a minor in finance.
During a previous UNK career fair, he connected with DMSi, an Omaha-based software company serving the building materials and industrial distribution industries. That led to a supply chain internship this past summer.
Now he’s considering several options after graduation, including pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree, another internship or a full-time position.
“It’s nice because if you keep coming, you’ll keep building those relationships,” Karas said. “I still get emails from people I talked to during those first few career fairs. That can give you a little bit of a leg up.”
This is exactly the kind of long-term engagement UNK encourages.
Academic Advising and Career Development hosts a general Career and Internship Fair each fall and spring, welcoming students from every major and class level. Additional recruiting events focus specifically on teacher education, health sciences and programs within the College of Business and Technology.
Beaman believes students shouldn’t wait until their final semester to start thinking about employment.
“Career development isn’t something that happens only during a student’s senior year,” she said. “Students need multiple opportunities throughout college to connect with employers and consider what they want to do after college.”
Keeping talent close to home
For Kearney-based law firm Jacobsen Orr, the career fair provides an opportunity to recruit talented students while encouraging them to establish careers in central Nebraska.
Firm administrator Dawn Becker, a UNK graduate, was recruiting students interested in internships and positions ranging from attorneys and paralegals to administrative professionals.
“Just like hospitals need more than doctors, we’re a law firm and we need more than attorneys,” she said.
One example of that approach was standing alongside her.
UNK graduate Gavyn Brauer began working at Jacobsen Orr as a legal intern while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in political science. After graduating this summer, he transitioned into a full-time paralegal position while preparing to attend law school.
Becker hopes other students will follow a similar route by starting as undergraduate interns, returning during law school and eventually joining the team as attorneys.
“If we can get them to Kearney and UNK, then hopefully they fall in love with the community and want to come back,” she said.
A few rows away, Grant Cope was promoting another central Nebraska community. He attended the career fair as business relations director for the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation and Chamber of Commerce.
Armed with information about local businesses, employment opportunities and the city’s ongoing development, Cope was collecting resumes and encouraging students to consider Grand Island as a place to begin their careers.
“We’re here to promote Grand Island. That’s what I do for my job – celebrate and promote Grand Island,” he said. “We want people to come there. We want to retain talent in Grand Island.”
Cope views UNK as an important partner in addressing the region’s workforce needs, particularly because of the university’s proximity to Grand Island.
“We don’t have a university there, so UNK is the university we funnel into,” he said. “We really want to promote that partnership because we think it’s super valuable.”
Cope wanted students to leave the career fair with a better understanding of what Grand Island offers, even if they’re not ready to accept a position right now.
“We’re trying to be that welcoming face, that first open door to the city,” he said.
Not every conversation at the career fair will lead to an immediate job offer or internship, but the connections students make can create possibilities down the road.
Just ask Nicol, who once walked the same arena floor looking for a chance to launch his career. Three years after graduating, he’s helping other Lopers find theirs.
