Getting a job in STEM after college is more about communication and relational skills than basic hard skills, according to Jason Lantz ’06, IT product manager of Kunz, Leigh & Associates.

“If you can get to an interview and ‘talk shop’ and check the box on hard skills, then you’re going to be in a really great spot,” Lantz said. “When you ‘talk shop’ with someone then they’re already treating you like a colleague in the interview. That’s about as good a spot as you can be.”

Career Services hosted a job and internship panel for students interested in STEM on Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the Formal Lounge. Four panelists answered students’ questions about internships, jobs, interviews, and work environments. 

Lantz said getting an interview is the biggest hurdle and the interview itself should be a display of all capabilities, not just specialization. 

“So it’s really about proving or showcasing through the interview process that you have a high level of competency and that you have a high level of capacity, meaning you’re going to be a high capacity employee who’s going to take off and help the company accomplish their main objectives,” Lantz said.

Kathleen Petersen ’95 said Hillsdale students have an advantage over other college graduates because of their liberal arts studies. 

“When you go into some kind of stem careers, people who are just focused on science or math cannot communicate to others and cannot write well,” Petersen said. “But you’ve done the research, and you’ve written the papers. You know how to speak about other things besides just one focused area.” 

Petersen, who now works at The Pediatric Palace of Hillsdale, said it is helpful to have these skills if you want to go further in a medical career and pursue a masters or Ph. D. Petersen said to only pursue further education if you know you want it. She married after graduation and didn’t get her nurse practitioner degree until years into raising her family. She said she knew what she wanted at the time of graduation and then she decided to go back when the time was right. 

Austin Hall, manufacturing engineer at Delphinus Medical Technologies, agreed and said it’s important to know ‘why’ you want an additional degree over ‘what’ that degree is. Higher education is expensive and lots of work is offered without that requirement, he said. 

Lantz said IT industry is everywhere–every business anywhere has an IT department because they all need proper set-up, function, and repair. 

“There’s very few industries that have not been transformed over the last 10 to 15 years by technology,” Lantz said. “And so there’s engineers and people who need to understand tech, tech discipline in every space. Tech jobs are not going anywhere.” 

Because both IT and medical expertise are highly demanded, the panelists said young graduates should be intentional on where they accept a position. 

“Know what companies you want to work for,” Lantz said. 

Caleb Bowers ’15, software engineer at Anduril Industries, said you must consider what life you will have by taking the job. Culture affects a lot of a work day, he said. 

“It’s easier to do hard things with good people,” Hall said.

Because of the plethora of opportunities, the panelists encouraged graduates to migrate until they find what they love. 

“It’s not worth it to stay in a job you don’t enjoy,” Petersen said. 

Hall said internships are helpful to students to discern what kind of job they may want in the future–to learn their likes and dislikes. Internships may also become job offers, he said. 

Junior Joey Spoelstra said he appreciated the panelists’ practical points. 

“I really liked their emphasis on the point of figuring out ‘why’ before ‘what,’” he said.