My husband and oldest son are both chemEs. Neither work for regional companies, but top global chemical companies. Even as a co-op student, my ds, who attended a state’s small public tech university, worked for a top global chemical company alongside co-op students from top tier engineering schools. At graduation, that company offered him a job. Obviously, they didn’t care about USNWR rankings. 
Both work alongside grads from a full spectrum of universities. At one point, my ds recruited/interviewed co-op students during career fairs on local college campuses that his company had a good rapport/experience with. These were not “powerhouse” engineering schools and again, it is a top gloabal chemical company, not a small regional company. Ranking of school is not something either of them have run into.