Simpson College students will have the opportunity attend the Iowa College Recruiting Network (ICoRN) Spring Interview Day at the West Des Moines campus of William Penn University on Feb. 25. ICoRN allows students to interview with many large companies and help get their names out into the job market.

ICoRN was created through a collaboration of private colleges to promote their students to big companies. Before its origination, recruitment days with big companies were dominated by larger state schools because the companies had access to more students. ICoRN allows private college students to have the same opportunities in the job market as state college students do.

Career Counselor Erin Swancutt said that this is a good way for juniors and seniors to get multiple interviews for internships and jobs.

“It’s great for students because it is a good opportunity get a lot of interviews in one day,” Swancutt said. “Students looking for internships at four or five companies could get all four or five interviews done in one day.”

Swancutt also mentioned other advantages, including a shorter application process, which gives students more time to prepare for their interviews.

A few companies and businesses participating at the Interview Day this year will include: Hy-Vee, Inc., Pella Corp., Wells Fargo, MassMutual Financial Group and Target Corp. These business and companies are offering full-time jobs and many internship opportunities to juniors and seniors.

The registration deadline for ICoRN was Feb. 8, but Swancutt advises students who didn’t get a chance to apply or who are not yet eligible to look into ICoRN in the future.

“Students should keep an eye out for it in the future, because it is kind of an odd thing and you must apply for it ahead of time,” Swancutt said.Brian Steffen, professor and department chair of communication studies, said more students should take advantage of opportunities like the ICoRN Interview Day.

“Our students don’t take these opportunities nearly as seriously as they should,” Steffen said. “Every job fair that (Simpson) has or they can go, they should go to, and the reason why is because the job market continues to be tight…you need to get your resume out and you need to do it now. I don’t care if you are a junior or a senior, do it now.”

Senior Ali Hagerty is one of the students who will attend the ICoRN Interview Day this year. Hagerty is looking into jobs and internships she never considered before. 

“Now that I’m graduating, I have found out that there aren’t a lot of entry level marketing jobs, so the ICoRN Interview Day gives me an opportunity to look at a lot of different things,” Hagerty said.

Hagerty also said that the Interview Day will make the whole process easier and recommends the Interview Day to everyone.

“I would recommend everyone to at least look and see what they have to offer for jobs, and it is really convenient because everything is all in one place,” Hagerty said. “If you’re applying for four jobs, you might have to travel all over, where here you can do it all in one shot.”