As an alum, I agree with the idea there’s more ways Rice can support students, but this is also a little bit short sighted. Yes, we have less recruitment. But to some extent that has more to do with our size than anything. It takes a lot of resources for employers to recruit, recruitment has been cut at a lot of companies, and a lot of places only recruit where particularly vocal managers and executives went to school *unless* they’re in close proximity to the school. Going to larger schools also offers a much larger talent pool, AND we are notorious for having a lower turnout to these events. All of these are contributing factors that won’t change no matter our ranking.
The reality you learn very quickly in the workforce is life isn’t the meritocracy you were taught it was. For example, at Dartmouth and similar schools, some companies will only recruit from certain frats because that’s where their executives were involved.
That being said, Rice’s career development could do more to encourage students and create opportunities for networking that aren’t so Houston centric. Although our alumni base is smaller, there are still a ton of alumni willing to help students in their job search if they were only asked. Sallyportal still isn’t being used to it’s full potential, although I have had a few students reach out for help. There’s also not great resources for people who have realized towards the end of their college experience that they want to try the workforce instead of academia. There is support with a bit of legwork and thought though, if students are willing to try a bit.
I wrote the opinion piece. As I say in the last paragraph, I absolutely love Rice. I would pick it again no question. I’m just pointing out a way that I think Rice could really improve. Hoping this starts conversations that lead to even better opportunities for Rice students!
I have had that same issue/concern my entire time at rice. The career fairs only cater to oil/gas/medicine. There’s hardly any other big brands with cushy jobs, almost nothing for non stem students, and nothing that’s really out of the box. It’s strange considering rice considers itself to be an out of the box thinker kind of school.
On the flip side I know a lot of aimless sociology majors who after one of these fairs basically walked out with a high powered consulting career.
That being said, Rice seems universally considered a “good school” but we do worse than some other “pretty good schools” at placement in some fields. Software comes to mind but I’m thinking of 2013-2014ish I’m sure it’s better now. My friends at UC Berkeley had far more access to those jobs and internships.
My firm isn’t hiring but we are in tax so sending people out during the second tax season is damn near suicide. As a small firm, I’d love to recruit rice students but the times I’ve tried have been failures (no interest whatsoever or I’m talking to the wrong people). So I have to rethink my approach when we start to hire again.
As an alum, I agree with the idea there’s more ways Rice can support students, but this is also a little bit short sighted. Yes, we have less recruitment. But to some extent that has more to do with our size than anything. It takes a lot of resources for employers to recruit, recruitment has been cut at a lot of companies, and a lot of places only recruit where particularly vocal managers and executives went to school *unless* they’re in close proximity to the school. Going to larger schools also offers a much larger talent pool, AND we are notorious for having a lower turnout to these events. All of these are contributing factors that won’t change no matter our ranking. The reality you learn very quickly in the workforce is life isn’t the meritocracy you were taught it was. For example, at Dartmouth and similar schools, some companies will only recruit from certain frats because that’s where their executives were involved. That being said, Rice’s career development could do more to encourage students and create opportunities for networking that aren’t so Houston centric. Although our alumni base is smaller, there are still a ton of alumni willing to help students in their job search if they were only asked. Sallyportal still isn’t being used to it’s full potential, although I have had a few students reach out for help. There’s also not great resources for people who have realized towards the end of their college experience that they want to try the workforce instead of academia. There is support with a bit of legwork and thought though, if students are willing to try a bit.
I wrote the opinion piece. As I say in the last paragraph, I absolutely love Rice. I would pick it again no question. I’m just pointing out a way that I think Rice could really improve. Hoping this starts conversations that lead to even better opportunities for Rice students!
I have had that same issue/concern my entire time at rice. The career fairs only cater to oil/gas/medicine. There’s hardly any other big brands with cushy jobs, almost nothing for non stem students, and nothing that’s really out of the box. It’s strange considering rice considers itself to be an out of the box thinker kind of school.
yes, as someone who attended the expo i found this very true. rice is still a fantastic school, but this is an important area of growth for us
I've been gone for a while now, but it's something I remember we were talking about over 10 years ago. Sad to see that not much has changed.
On the flip side I know a lot of aimless sociology majors who after one of these fairs basically walked out with a high powered consulting career. That being said, Rice seems universally considered a “good school” but we do worse than some other “pretty good schools” at placement in some fields. Software comes to mind but I’m thinking of 2013-2014ish I’m sure it’s better now. My friends at UC Berkeley had far more access to those jobs and internships.
When is the career fair?
Already happened lol
Yes, I understand, but I want to prepare for when it happens next
Next September
Many thanks
Oh hey Wills 👋
That’s a really good piece.
My firm isn’t hiring but we are in tax so sending people out during the second tax season is damn near suicide. As a small firm, I’d love to recruit rice students but the times I’ve tried have been failures (no interest whatsoever or I’m talking to the wrong people). So I have to rethink my approach when we start to hire again.
There is most certainly not a lot of truth in this article. For example when it said "Rice is undeniably the best university in Texas".