Fewer companies participate
in campus job fairs
By
Jenny Jones
Features Editor
Due to the country's slumping economy, fewer
companies are participating in on-campus job fairs.
Tim Luzader, director of the Center for Career
Opportunities, said company participation in the job fairs has been
down to about half of what it usually is because many companies are
uncertain about how many new employees they will be able to hire.
"It isn't that there is nothing being offered
out there," said Larry Huggins, assistant dean of engineering. "(It's
just that) the number of options is down."
Doug Young, a junior in the Schools of Engineering
and co-director for the engineering intern expo, said last year, approximately
90 companies were present at the expo while this year, the expo attracted
only about 70 companies.
Huggins said that many of the larger companies,
the ones that attend the job fairs every year, are continuing to participate,
but students need to do a little more work to acquire positions.
Considering this, Luzader recommends that students
keep their options open, thinking about medium- and small-sized companies,
in addition to large ones. And if some companies are not represented
at the job fairs, Luzader suggests that students visit them directly.
"The jobs are not going to be seeking them out,"
Huggins said.
But it's not just Purdue that's experiencing
a decrease in job fair participation.
Sloane Boyd, assistant director for the Arts
and Sciences Placement Office at Indiana University, said IU has experienced
a 20 percent decrease in the number of companies attending its job
fairs; it has also experienced a slight dip in the number of companies
looking for interns.
"Much of it is due to the economy," Boyd said.
Susanne Kelley, co-op and placement secretary
for mechanical engineering technology, said last year, the school
had 110 companies participate in its job fair, and this year, only
42 attended and some of these weren't even hiring.
"I think they come just to keep a presence on
campus," Kelley said.
But company job fair participation is only one
indication of the country's economic status; the overflowing number
of students seeking employment is another.
Allison Johnson, a sophomore in the School of
Management, said she was disappointed in the number of companies present
at the management job fair.
"There were a lot more in the fall (job fair),"
said Johnson. "I talked with hosts of some companies that said they
were just kind of there and didn't have any positions."
