Student Engineering Council holds 2008 Career Expo

AUSTIN, TEXAS—September 17, 2008

The 2008 University of Texas at Austin Engineering Career EXPO is just around the corner. The Career EXPO is an annual, student-run event that gives university engineering students an opportunity to meet with companies looking for current engineering students and upcoming graduates for internships and full-time positions. The EXPO will have 261 companies in attendance, 166 of which who are specifically looking for mechanical engineers. This makes mechanical engineers the second most sought-after field at the EXPO.

Organizers

The EXPO is organized by the Student Engineering Council (SEC). The SEC is an organization composed of engineering students whose purpose is to represent students of the Cockrell School of Engineering on campus and in the community. The EXPO committee, responsible for organizing the EXPO, is chaired by third-year students Emily Chen & Ashley Pietzsch. Ms. Chen is a Biomedical Engineering/Plan II major, and Ms. Pietzsch majors in Architectural Engineering. The EXPO is completely organized and run by students, and is one of the largest career fairs in the country.

Pre-EXPO activities

The EXPO starts off with a golf tournament, which is a great way to meet recruiters in a more informal setting. The tournament will take place at the Shadowglen Golf Club in Manor on Monday, September 22 at 8 a.m. Twenty companies will have recruiters playing in the tournament.

Later that evening, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., there will be a Senior dinner reception. Sixty companies will have recruiters there looking specifically for seniors who will soon be graduating. It will be held on the seventh floor of the University of Texas Club, inside the northeast side of the stadium. Seniors should absolutely remember to bring their résumé, but don't let the dinner replace going to the EXPO.

The Main Event

The next two days will be the main event. From 11 a.m. — 5 p.m. on Tuesday, and from 10 a.m. — 4 p.m. on Wednesday, at the Frank Erwin Center, students will have an opportunity to meet with companies from around the nation who are interested in hiring them. The companies at the EXPO run the gamut in size and type. As a sample, a few of the companies looking for mechanical engineers are: Apple, Applied Materials, Boeing, Capital One, Chevron, Dell, Frito-Lay, GE, IBM, NASA, Sun Microsystems, TxDOT, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Veritas Advising Group. Students should arrive with resume in hand, in business casual attire, ready to sell themselves and ask a lot of questions. To prepare for the EXPO, there will be a "How to Prepare" meeting Friday, September 19 at noon — 1 p.m. in ECJ 1.202, and to get more information, including the full list of companies, go to the EXPO 2008 web site.

Getting There

A shuttle service will be running to bring students to the Frank Erwin Center for the event. The shuttle will stop underneath the breezeway on Dean Keeton and at the Frank Erwin Center. It will run every 5 — 10 minutes from 10:45 a.m. — 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday and from 9:45 a.m. — 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday.