Alumni Recruit at Career Fair

For Tim Gutzwiller ’96, it has always been a win-win situation.

A new product development leader at Caterpillar Inc., Gutzwiller has been recruiting employees at Valparaiso University’s Career Fair every year it has taken place—nine to be exact.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the fair, which is scheduled for Sept. 14. Over the years, it has drawn some 280 Valpo alumni and more than 7,600 students.

Christina (MacFarland ’95) Konieczka is among the many Valpo alumni who have recruited employees at the VU Career Fair during the past nine years.

“It’s always fun to get back to campus and see the changes and visit with the professors and others who were there when I was a student,” Gutzwiller says. “It’s also nice to talk to the students. I think they have a great balance of theory and practical experience that leads to their problem-solving skills that are so critical for engineering.”

Caterpillar joins several companies that have participated in the Career Fair every year since its inception. They include: Aldi, Dwyer Instruments, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Exelon Corp., Northwestern Mutual Financial Net­work - Effner Agency, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, and Stryker Instruments.

Jim Pomeroy ’99, manager with Stryker Instruments, attended the fair as a student at Valpo, and now as a recruiter.

“[The fair] fosters a positive trend of individuals graduating from Valpo and supporting it and its students through­out the future,” he says. “It gives a solid opportunity to draw individuals in and expose them to Stryker.”

Learn how you can recruit at Valpo’s Career Fair. Contact Sandy McGuigan at 219.464.5005, or sandy.mcguigan@ valpo.edu.