While Illinois is seeing a resurgence in technology focused companies, most companies and their fantastic employment opportunities are not known to students on campuses across the region. Making the introduction and growing the awareness of the great companies that call Chicago home will build a conduit of talent to further the economic recovery of the region.
The ITA Fall Challenge Program involves an active on-campus presence. We are working with key university personnel, focusing on CS and CE students who are looking forward to their near future career goals. We will be:
- Attending university and engineering specific career fairs
- Partnering with universities on their tech events
- Creating opportunities for students to show off their skills
- Hosting tech CEO panel discussions on campuses around the region
- Hosting a summit to bring key university personnel to Chicago to meet with CEOs and to discuss the growth of the tech sector in the Midwest
Working with Alumni from each university, ITA will visit a total of 9 universities in 2011 including:
- DePaul University
- The Illinois Institute of Technology
- Illinois State University*
- Indiana University*
- Northern Illinois University
- Northwestern University
- Purdue University*
- Southern Illinois University*
- The University of Chicago
- The University of Illinois, Chicago
- The University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
(*Added in 2011)
The initial stage of the technology tournament will be held at each university, administering a quiz to assess the top talent. Qualifying scores from each university will be invited to the Final Challenge, held in downtown Chicago, where students will compete in an increasingly challenging exam for cash prizes. The top 3 students will receive $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000 cash prize. All Final Challenge participants will be introduced to leaders from the local technology industry at a networking session and will be selected by participating companies to participate in an initial interview.
ITA is proud to support the local technology industry address the talent gap and we invite you to become part of the program.