Article 2 of a 5-part series on UT San Antonio’s hidden talent pipeline
When Meta (Facebook) came to recruit at UT San Antonio for the first time, the recruiter arrived polite but skeptical.
We had been trying to bring them here for a while. Getting big tech companies to visit wasn’t easy because we weren’t on their radar. UT San Antonio wasn’t a place they thought of when they pictured a talent pipeline, but I knew what they’d find once they got here.
When she walked in that Monday morning, I could tell she didn’t expect much. She smiled, shook hands, and asked a few questions, but you could see she was just checking a box.
And I understood why.
UT San Antonio wasn’t on anyone’s recruiting map back then. We were seen as a commuter school, a nontraditional campus. In the eyes of big tech, that usually meant we didn’t have the kind of talent they were used to hiring.
But I know something about our students. When you give them a real shot, they’ll surprise you every single time.
That week changed everything.
The Turnaround
We organized a week of programming – Monday through Friday. Each day was a different college and a different event. By the end of the first day, things started to shift. The recruiter had met with a few of our students, and you could tell she was starting to see something different. She told me quietly in the hallway, “I didn’t realize how prepared your students are. They really are prepared.”
I smiled and said, “I know, we have phenomenal students.”
As the week went on, she met with more students — computer science majors, marketing students, cyber, communication, liberal arts, engineers — many of them first-generation college students.
She heard their stories: students who worked full-time jobs while going to school, who took the bus to campus every day, who learned to code between shifts or while helping raise their younger siblings.
Some of them were the first in their families to ever talk to a company like Meta.
At the end of the week, we met at their final event and said, “Mario, I don’t understand why we haven’t been recruiting here before.”
That moment still gives me chills.
For me, it wasn’t about Meta. It was about validation — proof that the talent we have in San Antonio can stand toe-to-toe with anyone in the country.
After that visit, Meta came back again. Then we started to focus on more companies, setting up meetings — Yahoo, Netflix, Google, Warner Bros., and more.
Each visit built momentum. It wasn’t just about getting students hired. It was about changing perceptions, showing national employers that top-tier talent exists right here in San Antonio.
I’ll never forget that first week. It was the first time I’d seen the light switch flip for a recruiter in real time.
She arrived skeptical. She left an evangelist.
That visit changed everything. Meta kept recruiting after that, and word started to spread. Other companies began reaching out, curious about what we were doing in San Antonio.
When big companies like Meta come here, it’s not just about jobs. It’s about recognition. It’s about students seeing themselves in the industries shaping the future.
I still think back to that Friday afternoon, when the recruiter said, “Why haven’t we been recruiting here?”
That question has always stuck with me.
Because the talent is here. It’s always been here. It was only a matter of time before the world realized this.