Daniel Esponda knew exactly where he was headed when the doors opened for the fall Career Expo last week on campus.

The UT Dallas senior had studied the employer profile list, circled and ranked his favorites and located their booths on a map of the expo. He had copies of his resume to hand out. And he was wearing a suit.

During the Career Expo, nearly 1,900 UT Dallas students and alumni met with 350 corporate recruiters from 100 companies.

Microsoft was at the top of his list of recruiters to visit.

“I’m a big fan of their technology,” said Esponda, who will graduate in May 2013 with a master’s degree in software engineering.

Though Esponda has an internship at Ericsson Inc., he wanted to broaden his options in case he doesn’t end up with a permanent job offer. He also targeted communications networks at the Expo, such as AT&T, Verizon and Cisco Systems.

If past experience with corporate recruiters at UT Dallas is any indication, he may just end up with a job offer.

About 88 percent of UT Dallas fall 2011 graduates landed jobs or enrolled in continuing education, according to a Career Center survey. Career counselors said that success is due to UT Dallas’ reputation for academic excellence and high-in-demand majors.

Students Stuart Yun, Kimberley Frederick and Danielle Craig prepare their resumes for upcoming interviews.

The University is a top draw for corporate recruiters each year. At the fall Career Expo, nearly 1,900 UT Dallas students and alumni networked with 350 corporate recruiters from about 100 companies.

“We have many repeat recruiters who say wonderful things about our students. They had an intern from UT Dallas, and they’ve come back to hire more,” said Lisa Garza, director of the Career Center.

Recruiters praised the caliber of students at UT Dallas. Texas Instruments sent 10 recruiters to this year’s Expo to interview a long line of candidates. Other repeat recruiters included Microsoft, Amazon, Raytheon, Cisco Systems and Spectrum Financial.

“We’ll probably lose our voices today,” said Tom Gilbert, a talent acquisition manager for Lennox International, located a few blocks from campus. “Smart kids come out of here, and they’re focused. We’re just a stone’s throw away, so we always get a lot of interest.”

Jude Gwanesia interviews with Gaby Serrano, a customer service agent with Maestro Personal Assistants.

Student Josh Burden shows a bag handed out by recruiters from Yahoo!

C’Koh Andrew, director of selection for Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, was looking at students who majored in marketing, finance, economics and business. “A lot of our interns have come from here, and one of three interns converts to a full-time employee,” Andrew said.

The recruiting team from Seattle-based Amazon included UT Dallas alumnus, Vishnu Priya Paluru, who graduated in December 2009. She pitched the company while wearing its motto on a T-shirt: “Work hard. Have fun. Make history.”

“The engineering programs here are laying out good basics, and Amazon wants to give these students a good career path,” Paluru said. “We are not just a dot com company. We have diverse products to work on, like the Kindle. This is a dream company for a computer science major.”

UT Dallas alumna Christy Ky, who graduated in May 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting, was looking over the employer profiles as she waited in line. She hoped to speak with American Eagle recruiters about a financial analyst position.

“I’m a little more excited than nervous,” she said. “I’m interested in an entry-level job because I prefer to work my way up in a corporation.”

The Spring Career Expo will be March 20, 2013.