On Wednesday May 13 we hosted our 2nd Annual Employer Forum. This was an opportunity for us to review the career fairs for AY 2025-2026, preview the upcoming fall career fairs. We also had David Huffman, our International Student Advisor, present on the specifics of CPT, OPT, sponsoring international students, and other questions regarding the hiring of international students. Visit, Employer Forum 2026 to watch the whole video.
I utilized part of the forum to do some live polling with attendees. There are some interesting responses that I think is important to consider and share.
The first 2 questions were on AI and its affect on their work.
While we know AI is having a profound impact on every industry, employers are not expecting AI literacy with candidates-yet. I expect as we all continue to navigate AI platforms, this answer will change over the course of this year. So lets then consider what employers are looking for with entry level positions. The responses from employers are important for every university to understand. They are looking for skills. This fact paired with the response that South Dakota State students need to improve their ability to communicate their skills is vital for us to address directly.
Skills translation is arguably the most important aspect of career readiness. My office is equipped to help everyone on campus develop strategies, tactics, and content to help our students develop this skill. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to attend a Career Champions Workshop and utilize the Faculty and Staff Online Toolkit.
The responses below showcase the importance of skills and skills translation. Everyone should take note and consider ways we can collaborate to address the concern in the second image.
We are good at tracking attendance at our career fairs. However, a perennial question with an evasive answer is, “what is the impact of these career fairs?” I am encouraged by the responses from employers at this forum, however, you can tell we still have some work to do. How do we get employers to click “Significant” over “Moderate?” Do the employers who clicked “No impact,” already have good engagement with students through practicums/internships or do we as a university need to figure out better ways to support them?
Finally, we are continually working to identify employers who hire international students. It was great to have David Huffman present at the forum to provide some clarity on the process, but you can see there is still some resistance.
The Employer Forum is a useful event we intend to continue annually. If you want to be a part of the event or help, please let me know.
