I Went to College in Ames and Stayed for My Career

Nathan Lambrecht

Ames, Greater Boone and Story County, Iowa, is a highly appealing region, as it offers affordable housing options, great sports and cultural scenes, a vibrant and engaged community, and excellent education and career opportunities. Drawn to these standout amenities, many people who attend college in Ames and the surrounding communities often choose to stay after graduation to launch their careers. 

Morgan Dalbeck is a perfect example. Growing up in Garner, Iowa, a city of about 3,000 residents that is approximately 90 minutes north of Ames, she studied at Iowa State University and stayed to work at Saltech Systems, a web design, development, IT, cloud hosting and digital marketing firm, where she was previously an intern. 

“There are so many good opportunities for growth here,” she says. “I could have gone home and found a position there, but growing up in such a small town, there weren’t many opportunities for growth in your career or even activities. My main purpose for staying in Ames is that it gives me a small environment feeling but also plenty to do around the community.” 

Tell us about your job and how you landed there. 
I work at Saltech Systems, located just a couple miles from campus. I originally started as an intern, and then after graduation, I really liked my job, so I spoke with them to see if they had any openings for a full-time role. They did, so I decided to stay, and I’m currently the operations manager. 

I work with all the different departments and clientele to help with making sure that clients are happy, that our departments and employees are meeting their weekly, monthly and annual goals, and to make sure they’re on track to be where they want to be within their careers, as well. I also supervise whether Saltech is meeting its own goals, too, whether that’s how many employees we want, where we want our annual budget to be, and things like that. I also help with accounts receivable and human resources. 

Why did you choose Iowa State University and what did you study? 
Since I grew up in a small town with a small school district, I was very used to a smaller town environment. I visited a lot of colleges before, but my cousin came here, and I visited her a couple of times, and I really liked Iowa State. 

The fact that it’s a smaller town made it easier for me to transition away from my parents and friends and everything I was familiar with. Ames has a homey feeling. When I was there, I majored in business management. 

What was it about Ames that made you say, ‘I want to stay and live here?’ 
Definitely the opportunity for growth that I wouldn’t have had if I returned home. But also, there’s always been so many activities, so much to do around the community, whether that’s football games, things happening on Main Street – there are lots of things to keep me entertained. 

I’m still pretty young, as far as my professional career, so I still like to go out and do things with my friends and have options to do many different things. My husband and I like to go to basketball games. In the summer, we love the farmers market. It has great food and lots of vendors. I love walking through Reiman Gardens, which has a lot of different events throughout the year. 

How would you assess the affordability of Ames? 
I recently bought a house, and there were great people to work with that were able to guide me to be able to find the right place for my budget and that had everything I was looking for. There are a lot of options here in every budget, no matter what you’re looking for. 

What was it like to transition from campus life to making friends beyond being a university student? 
One thing that really helped me was my internship. At Saltech, they promote working to hire. Their goal is to keep their interns and hire them full time after graduation. That was one of the biggest things that helped me, having a job right away. Another thing that made the community more welcoming for me was attending networking events. 

There are lots of opportunities. There’s Business After Hours, an open house for Ames Chamber of Commerce members; there’s FUEL Story County, which is through the chamber also and [works] to connect young professionals; and 1 Million Cups, a weekly coffee meetup for entrepreneurs. Those are things that have definitely helped me find friends who are fun to hang out with even outside of the events. The Ames Chamber has a great community that has all different interests and age groups. There’s always something to do and something to engage with to meet people who you may have similar interests with.

As far as job opportunities for recent graduates, what would you say the landscape is like, and how can people get connected to a job?
Iowa State hosts a lot of career fairs, and there’s also a job board [called iHire that] employers can use where they post opportunities specifically for young professionals that are just graduating. When I attended career fairs, I was able to meet a lot of people and see where I felt my skills would have fit with different companies. Just about every company in Ames shows up.

There are all types of diverse opportunities, and people here realize that when they are new graduates. They want to enter the workforce and find a job where they’ll be able to stay. With Iowa State being here, companies are willing to take a chance with you and work with you to grow your skills.