A Career Fair will welcome over 115 companies to the Gantcher Center today, marking a 77 percent increase in visiting organizations since last year, according to Director of Career Services Jean Papalia.
Technology, teaching, social services and non-profit companies will all be represented, as will several other categories of employers.
"[There is] something for everybody," Papalia said. "This is the largest number [of employers] that I can remember having."
She attributed the spike in attendance to the work of Steve Maser, Career Services' new assistant director of employer outreach.
"He's done a lot of work for the Career Fair and for campus recruiting programs," Papalia said. "He did a lot of outreach to companies."
While the event has traditionally taken place in the evening, this year it will run from 2 to 6 p.m.
"We moved the time ... to make it more manageable for employers and also to give students more time to get to it," Papalia said.
She said that this change has received an enthusiastic response from employers. "It was obvious that this timeframe was better for them," she said.
Another change in the Career Fair this year is the exclusion of graduate schools from the event.
"For the past seven years we've combined it with graduate schools, but graduate schools didn't get a big turnout from students, so we decided to focus on [employers]," Papalia said, noting that there are several separate programs for graduate schools to visit with students.
Although Career Services usually deals more with students who are nearing graduation, Papalia said that today's event can accommodate everybody.
"All class years are invited because students can talk to employers about internship opportunities as well as full-time positions," she said.
