Each fall the Lewis-Clark State College Career Fair brings together talented students and graduates with regional colleges, organizations, and businesses who are looking to recruit such talent. Over the past six years, Marc Batete has come to know each side of the career fair — from networking, to planning, and now recruiting. With the one-day event going stronger than ever, Batete finds himself preparing to return for another year.
Batete is an LC State alumnus originally from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, over 8,000 miles from where he now calls home. In a place of gratitude for his ability to move to the states, Batete pursued a degree that would allow him to positively impact his siblings in Africa.
“I was thinking, ‘I got this opportunity, but I have five siblings that didn't. How do I help them get the same?’,” Batete said. “Then I met this guy at church, and he told me he was in computer science, and you could make like $100,000 easily as a computer scientist. So, I was like, don't say anymore.”
Coming out with a newfound desire to pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science, Batete got to work. For the self-proclaimed “extra-extrovert,” getting to work didn’t just mean going to class, doing his homework, or studying for exams. It meant building connections, getting to know people, and becoming career ready. He soon found out that there were two individuals in particular that would be influential in this process; professor of computer science Nina Peterson, and former director of the Student Employment & Career Readiness Center Erin Cassetto.
“Nina Peterson was definitely a huge component of me being successful because she would always push me to do things,” he said. “She would make sure my resume was on point, I went to the career fair, I dressed appropriately, I talked appropriately. She was there every step of the way. I can't be grateful enough to her.”
Beyond Peterson ensuring Batete was always ready to go, he was putting extra time in at the Student Employment & Career Readiness Center. He said he was always busy volunteering for Cassetto, and going to any events the center offered, including the career fair.
Applying both what he was learning in the classroom, and professionally, Batete soon started taking advantage of more opportunities. He was able to attend the Boise Entrepreneur Week, help with coding for a program with Apple, complete research, and help grow LC State’s soccer club.
Though he was busy getting involved, he noticed the same wasn’t true for everyone, especially taking note of other students not utilizing the career center or math lab as often as he was. Understanding the contribution these programs had on his success, he sought to change this.
After talking through possible recruitment and retention plans for the center, Cassetto and Batete decided to channel their efforts toward the annual career fair. With the start of the pandemic, it seemed to be the perfect year for Batete to combine his background in computer science, and passion for the career center. With his help, LC State hosted its first Virtual Career Fair. Similar to many first attempts, the event wasn’t free of mishaps.
“The whole time, the thing kept crashing,” he said. “There were problems left and right. So, I ended up just troubleshooting the whole time.”
While troubleshooting, Batete missed his own interview with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) that was supposed to take place during the career fair. Despite what he thought at the time, Batete’s story with SEL didn’t end there.
Once the career fair finished, SEL’s recruiter called Casetto to thank her for hosting the career fair. Batete remembers her telling the recruiter that he organized the event but missed his interview with SEL because he was busy troubleshooting technical issues. The recruiter offered to interview Batete on the spot.
“I just walked into one of the rooms in the career center and had my first interview. That's how I landed this job,” he said.
Four years later, Batete is a software engineer at SEL. Bringing his story full circle each year, he joins SEL’s recruitment team at LC State’s career fair.
“I'm really focused on helping the students at Lewis-Clark State College because I think we have some pretty great students over there. I know teachers like Nina and the people at the career fair really try hard to get opportunities to students,” he said.
Batete encourages all students getting ready for the career fair to visit the career center, to not take it personally if things aren’t working out, and to find the thing you can become an expert at. He said it just takes one good interview, and employers are looking for someone who can learn.
“They're not looking for you to be an expert,” he said. “They just want you to have the ability to learn and if you can learn to the point that you become an expert, that's a really good look.”
