Minnestar hopes to help address early-career difficulties in the tech community.
If you’re on the prowl for a new job or just want to dip your toes into some new and exciting opportunities, mark your calendars—the Minnestar Tech Career Day is on Thursday, March 23, 2023.
Partnering with the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, Minnestar is gathering hiring companies, student tech demos, and community mentors for the event, so there will be plenty to experience and many conversations to have even if you’re not currently job searching. Here’s what you can expect:
- Tech & Startup Job Fair
- Talks featuring local subject matter experts
- Student tech demos
- Informational interviews & mentor chats
- Free headshots
- Networking happy hour
Minnestar Executive Director Maria Ploessl reflected on the challenges of tech employment (especially when it comes to early-career talent) and how the event hopes to address them.
"One of the persistent difficulties in our tech ecosystem is that some folks who are new to their career have a difficult time landing that first job in the 0 - 1 year experience level,” Ploessl said. “We don't have enough early talent programs or companies who are hiring junior talent to meet the demand in our workforce. The impact, therefore, is that this first year into their tech career can be challenging to navigate.”
Ploessl pointed to experiences such as the mentoring happy hour and student demos are ways early-career talent can connect with a wide range of employers and technologists in the community while discussing important topics such as finding a job, starting your own company, interview practice, and more.
“When we launched our first student event in 2018, we wanted to challenge [the early career difficulties],” Ploessl said. “To showcase the talent and innovation coming from current students and recent grads, and rally our community to show up for the next generation of technologists and tech entrepreneurs in a meaningful way.”
Free tickets for Minnestar Tech Career Day are available here. You can also sign up for a free job booth at the event, apply to present a student demo, sign up to be a mentor, and sign up to volunteer.
