Kayla Douglas, Anheuser-Busch’s director of network and telecom for North America, chats with UMSL senior Jack Rhodes (right) at the Information Systems Career Conference on Friday. (Photos by Ryan Fagan)
As president of the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ Information Technology and Cybersecurity Club, one of Pavani Laxmi Priya Maheswarapu’s goals is to provide her fellow students with opportunities to connect with professionals in the industry.
That’s why one of her priorities was bringing back the Information Systems Career Conference, which has not been held since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Maheswarapu understands the benefits of focused career fairs as well as anyone; she landed her upcoming summer internship with Hussmann Corporation after a conversation with the company’s representatives at UMSL’s 10th annual STL CyberCon last November.
“I’m really thankful to all the companies that are here today, given all the deadlines and commitments that they have,” she said. “They made it to this event, and they are helping out our IT community, the students and everyone. The small-group career fairs do help us a lot. Students get to interact personally with the companies, and they have ample time.”
The event on Friday, held in the Millennium Student Center’s Century Rooms, was co-hosted by the IST Mentoring Club. UMSL hosts multiple career fairs around campus all year, including the one big one each semester at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.
“I can appreciate something like this too, because this job fair is a lot more centered towards what we want to do,” senior cybersecurity major Jack Rhodes said. “The job fair at the Touhill is great, with all types of businesses there that may not necessarily be technology. That’s why this event is pretty big, because they’re all like-minded people who are doing what we’re all trying to do.”
Rhodes was one of many UMSL students who stopped by the Anheuser-Busch table and chatted with Kayla Douglas, the company’s director of network and telecom for North America. Douglas and her colleagues were at the event on the recommendation of Daarina Musaddiq, who is A-B’s director of digital workplace and a member of UMSL’s IST Advisory Board. Douglas and Musaddiq both recognize the value of connecting with UMSL IST students.
“Getting in the space where we have top talent at that collegiate level so that we can help mold their culture and influence while they’re early in their career, so they will have longevity with our company, is something we’re super interested in,” Douglas said. “Tech is evolving, so we have to get in with the young mindset and understand what the latest industry trends are and have them come in and move our company along.”
Douglas has been an integral part of A-B’s restructuring over the past few years.
“We have brought all of our tech resources in-house, so everybody is a direct hire,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of contractors that we work with. We develop, we support, we operate, we implement, we engineer. Everything is in-house now, and so now we’re calling ourselves a tech company that produces beer.”
Douglas said she was impressed with the students she spoke with.
“They’ve made the decision of what they’re doing, and a lot of them are in their graduate year, so they want to know if we’re hiring,” she said. “They want to know specifics, like what roles might be available, how do I get in, can you look at my resume and let me know if my last year of classes is applicable to what you’re looking for in the workforce? What certifications are you looking for? What programming languages are you looking for? Is there longevity with your company? Can I travel? What locations are you in? There have been a wide variety of questions, but a lot of them already have a good understanding of what it is that they want. They’re really confident.”
Conversations at events like this are important, even if they don’t lead to internships or jobs. Jin Bai, for example, is pursuing his master’s in cybersecurity, after a career in health care and chemistry.
UMSL cybersecurity student Etaf Abdallah (left) was one of several students who talked with Greg Shafer, the director of business development for Norton Digital Consulting. Shafer has been involved with supporting UMSL students for more than a decade.
“I don’t have any background in tech other than school and projects, so things like these help me network,” Bai said. “It helps me practice talking to people, because talking to patients and clinical staff is very different than talking to someone who’s in business. This actually gives me a bit of a holistic view on what’s going on. You might not see some of these recruiters again, so you can just ask them questions like, ‘Hey, I’m in this situation. How would you navigate it?’ To get something from a different perspective, that’s always good.”
Greg Shafer was at the conference representing Norton Digital Consulting, but he’s a familiar face for UMSL students. Shafer, a 1982 UMSL graduate, is on the IST Advisory Board, and he’s regularly helped out professors and instructors throughout the College of Business Administration in various capacities since 2007. He was gracious with his time at the event Friday.
“The students have asked me about opportunities and internships, and I’m basically giving them insight,” Shafer said. “I look at their resumes and say, ‘Hey, you may want to put some attention to this part of your resume.’ They can take my card, and they can call me if they would like some insight on their resumes. Some I’m able to help, some I’m not, but the way I look at that is, if there’s even 10 to 15% that I’m able to help, that’s a win.”
Jarad Perry is a cybersecurity master’s student who attended the event.
“I’m glad do stuff like this,” he said. “A lot of schools don’t put the effort into it. You get the degree, then they’re like, ‘All right, good luck.’ Here, they’re trying to connect you with people. I’ve met a lot of interesting people at events at UMSL.”
