”What is spray/freeze drying?”, “Do you have any open positions” and “is it possible to write my final project at GEA Niro?” These were just a few of the many good questions the two young engineers from GEA Niro got at the at the job and career fair held by Student Business Relations (DSE) at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) on April 1 and 2 2009.

An early spring day in the beginning of April, students and companies had gathered in the establishments of DTU. The occasion was the annual job and career fair, and of course GEA Niro was also represented in the shape of two young engineers, Jakob Sloth and Kristian Søberg Nielsen. They were both very impressed with and enthusiastic about the work that both DTU and GEA Niro had put into the fair.

”I think we had a very good fair,” Jakob Sloth, Research Scientist form the Test and Development department of GEA Niro says.
“I was positively surprised with the large amount of students at the fair. They were very interested in our stand, which was working very well; DRYNETICS ™ equipment, brochures and even our sample highlighters were a great success. We also had invitations for the GEA Niro visit day on the stand, and it was good to end a conversation by handing out an invitation.”

His colleague Kristian Søberg Nielsen, Project Manager at the Chemical department, agrees:

“Many students went targeted at the GEA Niro stand and had “done their home work” about the company.”

”Who is GEA Niro and what is spray drying?”
Even though some students were well prepared and knew about GEA Niro, many did not know either the company or the spray/freeze drying technology.

”Apart from the questions about GEA Niro and our core technologies, many students wanted to know how we train our ”green” engineers. They were particularly excited about our mentor arrangement,” Kristian Søberg Nielsen explains.

“They were also interested in the possibility of becoming an employee, an intern or writing their final paper at GEA Niro.”

Both engineers was approached by both Danish and international students from e.g. Europe and India. Most students were studying engineering, but a few were engineers, who lost their job because of the financial crisis and even a high school teacher looking for possible physics experiments for primary or high school level.

Fun to be at the other side
Jakob Sloth and Kristian Søberg Nielsen felt that they got something out of the fair on a personal level.

“In my former job I have been on a number of fairs such as ACHEMA, Herning Fair etc., so it was fun to be on the other side of the stand at a fair”, Kristian Søberg Nielsen says.

“I also got to meet other employees from GEA Niro than the ones I work with everyday. This made me think about how many occupational group we in fact dispose of as a company.”

”I have studied at DTU, so it was very exciting to be back. Especially since the engineer education is very dynamic and changes almost from one year to the next. It was interesting to hear and important to know, what competences the students will have gained, when they finish school,” Jakob Sloth says.