March 14, 2008

Twenty-two companies take part in Cowley’s Career Fair

One hundred and fifteen students from Cowley College’s Arkansas City campus and Winfield Technical Center took part in the annual Career and Technical Education Department Career Fair held Thursday in the Earle N. Wright Community Room.

Brett Butler, instructor in the Career and Technical Education Department, said the Job Fair was beneficial to students, prospective employers, and to the college’s programs.

“This gives the students the opportunity to go to work in every field imaginable that relates to their program of study,” Butler said. “This placement is the end result of our program. We recruit students and have them for two years in our program and then place them in the career that they have studied for.”

First- and second-year students in Cowley’s Industrial Technology programs, namely Automotive, Welding, Machine Tool, Non-Destructive Testing, and Mechatronics were given the opportunity to visit with prospective employers and recruiters during the two-hour fair.

Companies/exhibitors attending the Career Fair were U.S. Army, Koch Glitsch, Smith International, Tect Aerospace, X-Ray Testing, Kansasland Tire Group, Cessna, Triumph Accessories, Ditch Witch/Charles Machining, Nex Tech, Express Personnel, KSU Technical College/Salina, FTS, S&Y, Spears Manufacturing, T H Hill, Case New Holland, GKN, Iron Workers Local, Sykes, CFS, and Foley Equipment.

“There was a wide variety of companies here recruiting students from every one of our programs,” Butler said.

With business and industry coming directly in contact with prospective employees, each  student had a resume in hand to turn in to potential employers. Interviews were later conducted in various rooms on campus.

Kansas State University at Salina, which has an articulation agreement with Cowley College, was also on hand for the Career Fair.

“They came down to seek our students that are getting an Applied Science degree because they will roll over all of those hours into a four-year degree that they have at their technical school.”

A Career Fair will be held at Cowley’s Mulvane Center on April 22.
“It’s a good opportunity for students from both campuses,” Butler said.