Oct 18, 2019
By Victoria Grdina
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering will host its fourth annual Reverse Pitch event next week in a revamped format.
Reverse Pitch is an informal career event designed to match hiring tech companies with job-seeking CSE students. This year’s event will be held Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 5-7 p.m. at Nebraska Innovation Campus. It will feature 15 organizations that will each have 5 minutes to present their work, business models, attractive perks, and position openings to students.
This year’s event will feature a new structure that will split pitches up into three presentation sessions. All 15 companies will be briefly introduced at the beginning of the event in the NIC auditorium. Students will then have the opportunity to select which pitches they’d like to attend and rotate between breakout rooms throughout the event. Following all the pitches, students can enter the NIC banquet hall to ask questions and talk with representatives from all of the companies while enjoying free pizza.
“When Reverse Pitch was first created, it was a one-of-a-kind event. For our fourth event, it’s time to hit the refresh button to keep students coming back,” said event coordinator Jenna Huttenmaier. “The new model will allow our students more facetime with the companies they’re most interested in.”
While past events exclusively featured Nebraska-based organizations, the popularity and success of the series has garnered attention and inclusion requests from several companies located outside the state. This year's new participants include Garmin, Silverline, Farm Credit Services, and NRC Health. Returning organizations include Hudl, Spreetail, Firespring, Ameritas, Nelnet, Sandhills Global, Don't Panic Labs, Assurity, Talent Plus, Pen-Link, and Nobl.
“Reverse Pitch has grown significantly, and we’re fortunate enough to have a waiting list of fantastic companies that want to participate in the evening,” Huttenmaier said. “Each year we struggle with how to squeeze them all in, which is a good problem to have.”
More than 200 students have attended the event in previous years. Huttenmaier said that if this year’s event is as successful, there will still be plenty of opportunities available.
“The number of open jobs that these companies are trying to fill usually outnumbers the students at the event. I think every single computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering student will benefit by attending regardless of if they’ve been in the past.”
Reverse Pitch is free and open to CSE and Raikes School students, but the department encourages students to register for the event in advance through EventBrite. Tickets can be reserved online here.