TERRE HAUTE, Ind.  – The online world is providing several career opportunities for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students, with more than 110 companies and graduate schools participating in the college’s first virtual career fair on Wednesday, April 29.

That’s the date an in-person recruitment event was originally scheduled on campus.

Rose-Hulman’s Office of Career Services & Employer Relations originally anticipated 75 companies and graduate schools would participate in this spring’s virtual event. In the 2019 in-person spring fair, 72 companies came to campus to recruit students. This year’s turnout is an all-time high for the institute’s spring career fair. That fact has drawn the attention of other colleges, with several expected to be observing how the college conducts Wednesday’s event.

The 110 companies participating in Rose-Hulman’s virtual career fair, along with more than 6,600 employers and over 4,500 jobs currently registered on the Handshake online talent recruitment platform, shows that there’s still plenty of career options for graduating college seniors in the disrupted world economy, caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The list of national employers participating in Rose-Hulman’s virtual recruiting event include Milwaukee Tool, GE Appliances, Honeywell, North American Stainless, Raytheon Technologies, U.S. Food & Drug Administration and Ultra Services. Indiana- and Indianapolis-area companies recruiting include Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane Division, Software Engineering Professionals, Endress+Hauser, Formstack, Zotec Partners, Garmong Construction and SMC Corporation of America.

“Our students are very comfortable working in an online environment,” says Scott Tieken, Rose-Hulman’s director of career services and employer relations. “We’ve entered a whole new virtual world in career services. Employers and graduate schools are right there with us. Everyone is understanding of the situation during these circumstances.”

Interest is high for students with knowledge of data management and systems, computer security/cybersecurity and working in a virtual world, according to Tieken. Also, civil engineering majors are needed as the country expands its infrastructure, including road and bridge construction/replacement.

New opportunities are expected to emerge when the current economic conditions recover, Tieken says. With their problem-solving skills, Rose-Hulman graduates are being highly sought by companies to come up with new opportunities to weather these challenging economic conditions. Professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields are the backbone of a company’s research and development of new products and services, he notes.