Career expo expands to two days, sees more employers across industries
Rice’s Career and Internship Expo, which will take place Sept. 9-10, has expanded from one to two days, featuring over 120 employers across engineering, business, finance, consulting, arts and other industries, said Agustina Fernandez-Moya, director of employer engagement and experiential learning at the Center for Career Development.
Hosted by the CCD twice a year, the expo provides a platform for Rice students and alumni to network with recruiters in various industries. Fernandez-Moya said that the expanded expo will be the largest to date, and will cater to student needs more than previous years.
“Students were saying that they wanted more time, more access to companies, so that’s why we are switching from a single day to a two-day expo,” Fernandez-Moya said.
Alex Sansom, a bioengineering major, said that the expanded career expo is a needed improvement.
“The career fairs I’ve been to in the past have definitely been crowded … and have a lot of stations I’m not really interested in,” said Sansom, a Hanszen College senior. “I think that definitely having that split … seems like a good thing.”
The expo will be held at Tudor Fieldhouse. The first day will focus on engineering and technology, and the second on business, arts and sciences.
Fernandez-Moya said that the expo will have greater representation across different industries. To do that, Fernandez-Moya said the CCD asked students on 12twenty what companies they were interested in and met with faculty to see what companies students were talking about.
“We are looking at the different industries, how well they are represented within the expo and trying to fill in the gaps,” Fernandez-Moya said.
The expo includes new companies such as the musical theater production company Theatre Under the Stars and sports ticketing company Eventellect, said Alexander Rodriguez, assistant director of experiential education and data at the CCD.
CCD Executive Director Nicole Van Den Heuvel said that not all companies conduct recruiting through career expos.
“The career expo is just one way for students to get jobs and internships,” Van Den Heuvel said. “There are many companies who love to just go to career expos. There are also companies who will never ever come to a career expo.”
Antara Varma, an English and environmental sciences major, said that the previous career expo had a lot of companies recruiting for engineering roles.
“I would love to see more social sciences and humanities NGOs, more private organizations, because that’s where a lot of people tend to go in the social sciences,” said Varma, a Brown College sophomore.
The expo also takes place earlier than previous fall expos to accommodate the hiring timeline for certain industries, Rodriguez said.
“Nobody finds a job in two days,” Rodriguez said. “[Employers are] recruiting in the summer for some positions, and so us doing this earlier was in direct response to missing some employers because they didn’t need to come. They already finished and closed their deadlines.”
Rodriguez said that the expanded event also responds to employer feedback from previous expos that they wanted more time with students.
Mitch Torczon, a Capital One recruitment representative, said that the expanded expo helps give him that time.
“It’s awesome when we’re traveling down here from different locations across the country to have more time to spend talking to students and get more out of our trip,” Torczon ’16 said. “It’s also nice that there’s greater flexibility for students on when [the expo] fits into their class schedule.”
Ryan Kruse, a Shell recruitment representative, said that he thought different areas of focus across two days will allow for better conversations with potential recruits.
“A career fair often does feel really crowded, so it’s nice that you split it up,” Kruse ’12 said. “And it might also help to cater some of those conversations where, if you’re able to have more consistent talking points to students on a particular topic, you could focus on that more.”
Fernandez-Moya said that in addition to a greater number of employers, the expo will have a global scope.
“We sent thousands of emails trying to connect, and the great thing is that we not only have local companies, we also have international companies, so everything is represented,” Fernandez-Moya said.
Van Den Heuvel said that the CCD and its events are growing to accommodate Rice’s growth across the board. The CCD recently hired three new staff members.
“I’m very thankful that Rice leadership has recognized the value and importance of career development for every student,” Van Den Heuvel said.
More from The Rice Thresher
Rice lands high on Niche, Forbes college ranking lists
Rice recently ranked No. 10 on Niche’s Best Colleges in America list and No. 12 on Forbes’ annual America’s Top Colleges list in 2026. It was also recognized in several categories by the Princeton Review, placing in the top 10 in four categories.
From post-human novels to augmented reality, Rice hires new faculty
Rice welcomed 97 new professors this fall across disciplines, including a posthumanist Harvard scholar, a husband-wife duo and a computer science professor who graduated from Rice thrice.
First public of the year reckons with threats of a dry campus
After a Dis-O that saw four times as many calls for intoxication-related transports of students to the hospital compared to the prior three years, Cory Voskanian, a Martel College socials head tasked with planning the first public of the year, said that he was feeling the pressure.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.