Recruitment Ready: Inside the Rice MBA Career Seminar

The right internship can change everything. It’s often the first real test of whether the career you’ve imagined feels right in practice and the first big step toward where you want to go.

At Rice Business, we make sure students are ready when opportunity shows up. 

Our MBA Career Seminar gives Full-Time MBA students the tools, strategies and confidence to take charge of their internship search. With one-on-one support from the Career Development Office, students learn to tell their story, build connections and pursue roles that fit their goals.

Why We Built the Rice Business Career Seminar

Recruiting season can feel like a full-time job. We designed this seminar to make it more doable, structured, and grounded in real experience, offering students more support in an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment.

“The Career Seminar has given students a dedicated space to ask questions and actively work on their recruiting strategy,” says Mariella De Alba Ortiz, a senior associate director on the CDO team. “We’ve seen them fully engaged — participating in discussions, practicing outreach and exploring new resources that strengthen their search. It’s been exciting to watch them gain confidence and clarity as they shape their individual recruiting paths.”

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Our CDO advisors take into consideration feedback from both Rice Business student leaders and top employers alike to curate a well-structured curriculum that prepares students to stand out during recruitment.

From the very start of their first semester, students gain both guidance and accountability. The seminar helps them stay on track with key milestones while developing the skills that matter long after the MBA: communication, adaptability and self-awareness.

Inside the Seminar 

Designed to give students both structure and confidence, the seminar combines tactical skill-building with real-world practice. Students refine their personal brand, master networking and interviewing, and build a sustainable recruiting strategy tailored to their goals — all while learning how to keep momentum through changing plans.

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Here’s a look at some of what’s covered:

• Networking in Action: Coffee Chats
• Recruiting Roadmap: Timelines, Targets and Strategy
• Personal Brand & Value Proposition
• Behavioral Interviews I: STAR Stories
• Behavioral Interviews II: Alumni Panel and Fish Bowl
• Communicating with Recruiters and Evaluating Offers
• Sustaining Your Search

Together, the sessions form a complete roadmap for internship recruiting, helping students sharpen their professional identity, connect confidently with employers and approach interviews and offers with clarity.

Who It’s For

The Career Seminar was designed specifically for our Full-Time MBA students, who face a fast-paced recruiting cycle in their first semester. These sessions provide targeted, timely guidance just when it’s needed most.

Our working professional programs also receive robust career resources, but this hands-on, semester-long series is currently exclusive to full-time students. Because they step away from their careers during the two-year program, we provide Full-Time MBAs with this guidance to help them reenter the workforce with valuable internship experience.

Recruiting at Rice Business

At Rice Business, students don’t go through recruiting alone. The Career Seminar is built into the experience — not as an optional add-on, but as a core part of what makes our MBA program distinctive.

Every step is designed to help students turn preparation into confidence, and confidence into results. Learn more about companies that recruit at Rice Business.

Explore the Rice MBA