CASEY CAMPBELL/Gazette-Times Tara Armatas, left, a Master of Business Administration student at Oregon State University, talks with district manager of Ameriprise Financial Incorporated Amy Groshong, as Lige Armstrong, center, talks with Susan Greif of Ameriprise at the OSU Career Fair in the CH2MHill Alumni Center on Tuesday.

Career event at OSU offers internships and job opportunities

With graduation fast approaching, the job hunt has already begun for Oregon State University senior Chauncey Walker — and OSU officials say it’s a good time to be looking.

On Tuesday the sociology major wandered through rows of booths staffed by recruiters from various companies, looking for potential employers.

“I’m kind of looking in the human resources field,” Walker said. “I’m checking out possible career prospects, just kind of seeing who’s out there, what they’re looking for and getting a better idea of a career path.”

More than 1,100 students and alumni were expected to attend OSU’s career fair, which took place in the CH2M Hill Alumni Center. On Tuesday and Wednesday combined, fair organizers expected about 190 companies to participate.

Walker concentrated on retail outfits such as Mervyn’s, Macy’s and J.C. Penney, but the fair also included recruiters from such employers as Hewlett-Packard, Willamette University Law School, the U.S. Customs Service and Border Patrol and Frito Lay.

Positions available included internships, part-time jobs and full-time opportunities.

For the first time since 2001, the job market is looking up, according to Tom Munnerlyn, director of career services at OSU.

Munnerlyn said pharmacy, health care and forestry are some of the fastest-growing fields.

Last year the career fair attracted about 150 companies. Munnerlyn sees the increase in recruiters as evidence of growing employment opportunities for students.

Recruiters at the fair directed potential employees to their company Web sites’ job listings and accepted resumes. Some even scheduled interviews for Wednesday with promising candidates.

“(Job prospects) are better than in the past few years. Even though there are some ups and downs in the economy, jobs seem to be staying pretty steady and even growing,” said Carrie Coplan, OSU career fair coordinator.

Jordan Benner, public outreach manager for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, recruited at a College of Forestry career fair a couple of weeks ago, but he appreciated how this week’s event put him in contact with students from a wider variety of majors.

Benner is looking for a paid summer intern to focus on public education and outreach. The ideal candidate would have a forestry, natural sciences or natural resources background, experience with K-12 outreach, good communication skills and some knowledge about Oregon forests.

Every employer has a slightly different set of criteria when looking for the perfect candidate.

Jennifer Beattie and Kassandra Anderson attended on behalf of the Medford-based mail-order company Harry and David.

Beattie, manager of recruiting and college relations, said Harry and David is looking for paid summer interns and would also consider recent graduates for positions as merchandise, marketing and financial analysts.

They’re looking for someone who is “well-prepared, who knows something about the company,” said Anderson, a recruiting and college relations specialist.

Beattie likes to see a resume that “shows diversification — not just academics, but work experience and maybe some philanthropic efforts. Someone who can have more than one iron in the fire. That indicates they’d be a good multi-tasker.”

Editor’s note: The photo that accompanies this story was mistakenly published with an unrelated story on page A3 of Wednesday’s edition.

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