Recruitment, Flyer style

The RecPlex gymnasium held a sea of Flyers at the 2025 career fair — not just students, but alumni, too.

Ben Bischof ’20, a Duke Energy substation civil engineer, attended with his colleague, Taylor Nieding, an underground power grid engineer, to recruit engineering students for co-ops. They were with a group of engineers who would work directly with the co-op students as mentors.

“Most of us were co-ops at one point, so we have been in their shoes and it's easy to relate to them,” Bischof said. 

Joe Gruensfelder ’16 came down from Power Construction in Chicago with his colleague Logan Spurlin. Gruensfelder has been an advocate for recruiting Flyers for the general contractor since he started there more than two years ago and said he’s noticed an increase in qualified candidates from previous years.

“Logan and I had to make some tough decisions about who to invite for next-day interviews and jobsite visits,” he shared in an update.

“So far, we’ve had one accepted offer for a summer 2026 internship, one pending return offer for another internship and one pending full-time return offer." 

“However, my favorite thing is our growing list of candidates to target when we come to campus again next year. We’re excited about the momentum we’re building and optimistic about our future at UD.”

Jackie Nicol ’08, a construction area engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation, also witnessed UD students raise the bar. She attended with Lucy Zelinski ’24, an ODOT local public agency project manager.

“I really love how the University of Dayton is encouraging our first-year students to attend career fairs. It seems like there's been training in how to introduce themselves and give that elevator speech about who they are, what they're looking for, where they stand and what their goals are,” Nicol said, reflecting on the last five career fairs she’s attended at UD. “That makes it a lot easier for employers to be able to communicate with them and not have to lead the conversation.”

There were many others who weren’t alumni but were interested in engaging Flyers, too. 

“Well, when we hire, we look for more than just the technicals,” said Spurlin, who works in Power Construction’s career services department. “We look for the right values, the right people who are going to come to Power and be a good fit for 20 years. A lot of that is curiosity, work ethic, people that are going to do the right thing. And the Dayton people that we have found are just that, every bit of that.” 

Photos by Sylvia Stahl