Engineering job recruiting keeps pace

By Marie Wilson

The months of September and October are the peak times for job recruiting on campus, and the slow economy is not yet deterring companies in engineering-related fields from searching for new employees.

Recruiting for engineering internships and jobs began the week of Sept. 15, said Sarah Zehr, assistant dean and director of Engineering career services.

The first two weeks of recruiting were a little slow, but this week has been busy with companies such as Caterpillar Inc. actively looking for interested students, Zehr said.

“Overall, there’s a shortage of engineers,” Zehr said. “So some other divisions might be more affected than we are.”

Caterpillar also has not slowed down its recruiting pace this year, because the company is expanding, said Dana Coldren, engineering manager for the company who recruited students Wednesday and Thursday.

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“It certainly hasn’t hit us yet this year,” Coldren said. “We are hard at recruiting and trying to get all types of people.”

Job and internship recruiting in Engineering and other departments continues throughout the month, with more career fairs scheduled for the spring.