Sacramento State students in business suits and resumes in hand gathered for the annual College of Engineering and Computer Science Career Fair today. A total of 130 companies and state agencies, including Pacific Bell, Hewlett Packard, Caltrans, Intel, C.C. Meyers, Inc. and Altec Industries, participated in the event. Employers participating in the event had a combined 4,136 job openings.

Director of Recruiting and Administration for C.C. Meyers, Inc. Terrence McNamara said his company has six full-time openings and eight summer internship positions. This is the third year McNamara was involved with the career fair.

“I spend as much time as I can at this event talking with sophomores and juniors about what their options are,” McNamara said. “Talking with students and finding out what their interests are is what makes this event fun for me.”

Debbie Muhl of Human Resources for Altec Industries said her company usually fills its positions through events like the career fair. This year, Altec Industries has five engineering positions it is trying to fill.

More than 100 students from the college volunteered to help at the event, said Cici Mattiuzzi, director of career services for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Much of the recruiting and coordinating of the volunteers was done through the career services website, she said. “The logistics of putting this event together is like a military operation,” Mattiuzzi said. “Using innovative technology like the website has made it much easier and more efficient.”

President of the Association for Computer Machinery and senior computer science major Marcus Watstein said the organization had 20 students volunteer at the event. While he thinks the career fair will help him to get a job, Watstein wishes there were more firms at the event looking for computer science majors. “I feel that I have made an excellent life choice with a career set in front of me as I graduate,” Watstein said.

Sarah Hilenan, junior civil engineering major, volunteered to greet and help representatives of the participating firms set up booths.

“I volunteered because I thought it would give me a chance to get some one-on-one time with the representatives and get to know their firms better,” Hilenan said.

Raju Nair, senior electrical and electronic engineering major, handed out resumes to AT&T, NEC Electronics America, Inc. and Intel in the hopes of finding a summer internship.

“I want to get some real-world, hands-on experience before I graduate,” Nair said.

Greg Holden of NEC Electronics America, Inc. said his company is looking for students’ talents and breadth in their resumes. Holden is also talking with students to gauge their ability to communicate, he said. NEC is looking to fill three engineering positions and is not offering any internships this year, he said.

Seminars on engineering and computer science at this year’s career fair were put on by PG&E, Caltrans, Intel, the California Air Resources Board, the Franchise Tax Board and AT&T on topics ranging from building and maintaining California’s infrastructure to telecommunication services.

Sac State alumnus Richard Layne, a software engineer at Intel, led the Intel seminar. In addition to letting the 46 students at the seminar know about Intel, he also offered specific advice on how to succeed both as students and employees.

To succeed in both work and school, people need to make sure they do three things: Show up on everyday and be on time; do the work assigned to them; and be a pleasant person to work with, Layne said.

“I have excelled at jobs I have had, not because I was the smartest person or the best at my job, but because I did these three things,” Layne said.

To read more about job opportunities available for engineering and computer science majors, visit the College of Engineering and Computer Science career services website.

Todd Wilson can be reached at [email protected].