TSTC students, alumni meet prospective employers at college’s Industry Job Fair

(WACO, Texas) – More than 1,000 Texas State Technical College students and alumni attended TSTC’s Fall 2023 Industry Job Fair held Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Waco.

Representatives of more than 200 companies were stationed at the campus’s Col. James T. Connally Aerospace Center, Industrial Technology Center and Murray Watson Jr. Student Recreation Center. Students lined up outside the buildings shortly before the event’s 10 a.m. start.

“This is an opportunity very few colleges afford their students,” said Mike Martin, a TSTC Instrumentation Technology instructor.

Some companies had been represented before at TSTC events.

Bryan Chandler, an instrument design supervisor at the Houston office of Wood, an energy and materials markets consulting company, said he was interested in talking to students in the Electrical Power and Controls and Instrumentation Technology programs. He said the company has had success in hiring from these programs in the past.

“I like talking to the young people and explaining the opportunities that we have,” Chandler said.

Representatives of Hello Bello in Waco were interested in attendees with industrial maintenance and machine operation experience. The company produces up to 2 million diapers a day using four production lines, with the potential to add more production lines in the future.

Zoe Jeffries, who works in Hello Bello’s human resources office, said people with drive and an aptitude for working with machinery make good employees at the company.

Some companies were represented for the first time at the job fair.

TJ Wessel, owner of HVAC services company Zip Air in Waco, was interested in students and alumni from the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Technology program. He said he wanted the company to try something different by finding people who have experience but are trainable.

“You have a solid HVAC program,” he said of TSTC.

Students were eager to meet as many company representatives as possible.

Amelia Stankiewicz, a first-semester Building Construction Technology student from Keller, attended her first TSTC job event.

“Everyone is very friendly,” she said. “I’m not scared to talk to anyone. It is an awesome opportunity to look at jobs that are out of the box.”

Krege Bailey, of Lott, is in his third semester in the Building Construction Technology program and was attending the job event for the second time.

“I like meeting the people here and knowing what they can do,” he said.

Bailey said students, no matter which semester they are in, should attend the job fairs to become familiar with companies that they can follow up with at later events.

TSTC plans to have another Industry Job Fair in spring 2024.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.