ESSU Company Tours
H.B. Fuller and Cargill
February 12, 2016
ESSU-Minneapolis Trip
Each semester the ESSU (Enterprise Systems Student Union) participates in a company tour/information session. This winter semester we were lucky enough to organize a road trip with nine of our members and one faculty advisor, Dr. McGinnis, to the Twin Cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN.) On this trip we visited with two companies that we have built strong relationships with over the years, H.B. Fuller and Cargill. Both of these organizations recruit heavily from both the ESSU and the MIS/ERP Program, hiring interns and full time employees.
The group of us headed out bright and early Thursday morning February 11th as we had our first event with H.B. Fuller at 4 p.m. that evening. Upon arrival to H.B. Fullers headquarters in St. Paul, the beauty of the campus immediately astounded the group. It is a very new building that is LEED certified and located on a nature preserve protected by the government. On this nature preserve there is wild deer, turkey, a beautiful lake, and three miles of walking trails. Greg Mueller, Director of Business Process Improvement and the SAP Center of Excellence, as well as the main point of contact/recruiter at GVSU, greeted us. In addition to Greg we took a tour with two chemists, one of which was a past intern, and are now both working full time for the company. They ran the tour with additional help from Greg and a woman from marketing who was a chemist prior to her current position. They took us into many different laboratories where they made different products, as well as the offices and cubicles of employees. On the tour we passed the Vice President of the company, who immediately recognized one of the past interns and greeted her enthusiastically with a hug and if she way enjoying her new full time position. This showed a lot about the culture and the people who are employed at H.B. Fuller.
Following the tour we were spoiled with delicious BBQ that was catered in. While we ate we had break out sessions with the two recent chemist hires, CIO, Greg, and others. This was very valuable to our members as it gave us an opportunity to ask whatever questions came to mind about the company, IT, SAP, and their internship/full time opportunities. At the time H.B. Fuller had three internships left in their IT organization. It was a great visit and experience that I know all of the members truly enjoyed. We were all very impressed and two of our members left with a phone interview scheduled for the following week.
Thursday night we checked into our hotel at Park Plaza Bloomington and bonded as a group for the night. We woke up Friday morning and headed out to Cargill’s headquarters in Hopkins, MN for their Cargill IT Career Day at 9 a.m. Once again, upon arrival to the campus, our members were in utter shock of how amazing the buildings and campus were. Very new, LEED Certified, with a pond, walking trails, and reminded us all of GVSU with how well kept it was. Our members along with students from the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, and Eau Claire University were among those in attendance at the event. Leiah Hess, currently a Business Relationship Manager Generalist, as well as past MIS, ESSU, and tack & field athlete as GVSU opened up the event. The recent hires/recruiters introduced themselves with their name, school/major, and one thing on their bucket list. Following their introductions the students also went around and shared the same.
We were then put into groups of three or four and played a game of “Minute to Win It.” In the first game we competed against our own teammates to see who could knock down the most plastic cups stacked as a pyramid using a rubber band in one minute. This was a great icebreaker and an enthusiastic way to start a long eventful day. Kendra Popov, Senior Human Resources Generalist, followed with a presentation on Cargill’s Global IT practice and their summer internship program.
Cargill’s summer internship program is twelve weeks long from May 22nd through August 12th. You will get a six-week project with three or four people, have the opportunity to volunteer, participate in plant tours, attend a Twins game, a Mid-Summer Review, as well as group socials and an end of the year celebration. These internships can be in Hopkins or Wayzata, MN as well as Wichita, Kansas. September is when one should plan to hear back on receiving an offer or not. If you are given the opportunity to come back for a second summer you are rewarded with financial increases and an independent project. Interns are also given a mentor with 3-5 years of working experience and plenty of networking opportunities with senior leadership. Past intern project areas were data management marketing plans, operational dashboard design & social analytics, and business intelligence & project management. Full time employees usually start the second week of July with the possibility of being in the TDP Rotational Program. This involves three IT rotations lasting around 18-24 months each. These positions vary from Business Analysts, Business Relationship Manager Generalist, Audit Associate, and Project Management Office Associate.
Todd Schnobrich, Business Relationship Manager & Global IT Leader, followed with an outstanding presentation. He has been working with Cargill for over thirty years and gave plenty of great advice on passion, leadership, and our future careers. Some that come to mind are not diving too far into one technology, learn languages, be diverse, a lifelong learner, and empathetic. He highlighted how important it is to lead change, be able to tell a story, collaborate, build relationships, and solve problems with our peers. My personal favorite was his analogy of being a five-tool player, a common phrased used in baseball. He used this to refer to what you should aim to be as an employee, a jack-of-all-trades that can do everything well.
Following Todd’s insightful speech we headed down to the cafeteria for a delicious taco lunch. You could sit wherever you pleased and each table had at least one employee who you could network with and ask whatever questions came to mind. After lunch our groups of three to four from earlier in the day went on two job shadows with current full time employees. This gave us another great opportunity to network, ask questions, and get a first hand look at what a day in the life of a Cargill Global IT employee looked like. Once the job shadows finished it concluded the Cargill IT Career Day. We headed back to the hotel, changed, and went out to eat with Mitchell Grewer and Leiah Hess. These two are current Cargill IT employees and ESSU/MIS alumni from GVSU. The group of us went to the Mall of America and got a taste of what downtown Minneapolis was like. This was the perfect way to end a great trip to Minnesota.