Roughly 291 companies and government agencies, 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and 300 volunteers have signed on for this week's 2016 Engineering Expo — Virginia Tech's largest career fair and one of the largest student-run career fairs in the nation.

The Student Engineers’ Council at Virginia Tech hosts the expo, held Sept. 13-14. To accommodate the growing number of attendees, the fair will take place in the Squires Student Center and Owens Hall’s banquet hall. Following the fair, on Sept. 15, one-on-one interviews will take place at the Cassell Coliseum ambulatory.

During the two-day event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., students from all 14 engineering departments are invited to walk through the exhibits and view products, promotional items, and demonstrations from hiring companies. Renowned international companies, such as SpaceX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, BMW Manufacturing, Lockheed Martin, and Bloomberg, are among those listed to attend to market to students seeking internships, co-ops, and full-time positions.

“Will, our expo chairman, worked diligently throughout the summer to ensure the career fair is a success for the College of Engineering’s students,” said Bevlee Watford, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech and interim faculty advisor to the council. “The Student Engineers’ Council realizes the importance of bringing companies to campus to recruit our highly qualified students, who have been educated to be critical thinkers with hands-on experience and ready to solve real-world problems.”

A new goal for the council this year was to provide students more exposure to all of the companies that attend expo and for companies to reach students they may not meet.

“Brand new this year is the Student Resumébook,” said Will Scherr, of Severna Park, Maryland, a senior in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. “Students can easily submit their resumés through the expo website and companies can access the resumés online before, during, and after the expo event."

To assist with the large number of attendees that have preregistered to attend the two-day event, 15 check-in booths will be spread across the two buildings on Sept. 13. One check-in location will be outside of Owens banquet hall and the other will be on the ground floor of Squires Student Center. On Sept. 14, check-in booths will be located on the ground floor of Squires only.

The annual expo is an extension of the self-funded Student Engineers’ Council’s (SEC) mission to promote the personal and professional development of student engineers at Virginia Tech by helping them to define career goals, pursue career opportunities, and develop leadership skills, according to the group’s website.

“We are looking forward to hosting a successful expo,” said Scherr. “The SEC takes great pride in connecting industries leaders with exceptional engineering talent.”

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