International Business Machines Corporation took a trip to ULM before the career fair to speak about its structure, its current abilities and interest in hiring people from Louisiana.

IBM is partnering with the State of Louisiana to bring 800 tech jobs to Louisiana over the next four years.

Many majors are considered for jobs at IBM, including those outside of the College of Business. Students attending the presentation were faced with the opportunities offered in the state.

Connor Dixon, a sophomore computer science major, loved that IBM came to speak with students.

“A Fortune 500 company that’s expanding in our own state, going beyond just setting up a booth at Career Fair and actually coming to us and talking to us about what they do, and the opportunities they’re extending to us is great,” Dixon said.

Dixon serves as secretary for ULM’s Association for Computing Machinery. He was impressed that IBM is interested in hiring students from ULM.

“Even though [IBM’s] center is in Baton Rouge, they believe that it’s worth the time to reach out to students over here to get the best talent. That makes me feel great,” Dixon said.

IBM’s Service Center location in Baton Rouge is currently temporary. IBM has three physical locations in the US, one of which is the Baton Rouge location.

A new permanent location is being built and should be ready for move-in early this year.

Armand Arcilla, a junior computer science major, thought it was awesome that the company sent representatives to speak to students before the career fair.

“I don’t think most students have much time to spend at the fair if they plan to go, so any prospective interest in a company needs to be snapped up pretty quickly by these companies,” Arcilla said.

Arcilla believes that IBM’s early visit gave them “the leg up since they could present more of their information in more detail without the restraint of time.”

IBM ranked 23rd on the Fortune 500 list in 2014.