As a freshman, Jonathon Stadler was helping with cleanup after Rose-Hulman’s Fall Career Fair when he caught the attention of a recruiter from Steel Dynamics. That simple interaction turned into a conversation, which led to an internship offer. Three years and multiple internships later, Stadler has accepted a full-time position with the Indiana-based steel producer.

“As a freshman, you don’t know much about the real world, but if you can demonstrate that you have good skills and technical abilities, you can relay that to employers,” said Stadler, now a senior mechanical engineering major. “I ended up talking to probably 10 employers that day. It was tough, but I walked away with an internship offer from Steel Dynamics that year and stayed with them for three years.”

Stadler’s story highlights the kinds of connections made possible through Rose-Hulman’s Fall Career Fair, the largest of four career fairs offered throughout the academic year for the top-ranked STEM college. This year, 232 companies — including Caterpillar, Cummins, Direct Supply, Eli Lilly and Company, Honda, and Texas Instruments — came to campus to recruit more than 1,700 attending Rose-Hulman students for full-time positions, internships, and co-ops. Thirty-three companies were attending for the first time, representing industries from aerospace to renewable energy.

One of those first-time participants was Carvana, which brought a strong Rose-Hulman alumni presence, with three of its four recruiters Rose graduates.

“The talent at Rose seems to be second to none when it comes to computer science and software engineering,” said Shawn Humphries, director of engineering for Carvana Wholesale. “(Rose alumni) have been very successful moving our business forward. They speak highly of the graduates here. The biggest thing is finding talent that we can drop in and make a big difference right away.”

Humphries noted that Rose students’ experience with internships and project work sets them apart. 

“It’s the speed of contribution and the depth of experience or the course work that they learn here that seems to make them more prepared to help a business right out of school.”

That mix of preparation and real-world readiness is also why software engineering firm SEP continues to recruit heavily at Rose-Hulman. The Indianapolis-based company, founded by four Rose alumni, employs more than 50 graduates among its 180 team members.

“We know the program well, we know the candidates well,” said Kyle Pinches (computer engineering, 1999), director of talent acquisition and onboarding. “It just winds up working out for us time after time. So, we continue to come back year after year.”

Pinches added that Rose’s emphasis on project-based, collaborative work mirrors SEP’s own culture.

“That’s not something every school does,” he said. “Here, it happens quite often. It’s a big part of it — just working together. That’s how we do our work.”

Students like junior biomedical engineering major Makayla Johnson also recognize the value of learning through experience. Having attended three career fairs, she sees each one as an opportunity to build skills and confidence. 

“My first two, it was learning how to talk for recruiters, learning the elevator pitch, learning how do you research when you have a lot of companies,” Johnson said. “What I’m looking for at this career fair is obviously that internship or summer experience, but also learning a lot about the opportunities that are available full-time that I think will come in handy next year when I’m a senior.”

Employers echoed that Rose-Hulman students stand out for their practical, results-driven approach.

“We’re just starting to look at local Indiana technical school talent and what they’re doing with computer science and moving into the AI field,” said Eric Graves, senior advisor data scientist for Eli Lilly in the Advanced Intelligence group, a division of the pharmaceutical giant that was also a first-time attendee. “I know that Rose students are very competitive. They’re very project-oriented. They like results. It’s not a lot of theory here. It’s a lot of actual demonstration. That’s why these career fairs are so successful.” 

For first-time attending companies like Tennessee-based Reinhausen Manufacturing, which supports global power grid systems through the manufacturing of components for transformers, Rose-Hulman provides the potential a consistent talent pipeline. Senior human resources generalist Sydney Segraves said the company first connected with students at Welcome Back Wednesday, an event leading up to the career fair that provides employers and students the opportunity to connect in more casual, fun environment.

“We loved it,” Segraves said. “We had a great time, met some cool kids, so now we’re back and we’re hoping to meet up with a lot of the ones we met last time.”  

With career placement rates consistently near 100 percent, Rose-Hulman’s blend of technical rigor and real-world application continues to set students up for success — one conversation and one opportunity at a time.