Hopeful applicants visit Summer Jobs Fair

Students lined up outside Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union on Wednesday before the Summer Jobs Fair sponsored by the Career Development Center started.

Some of the students checked their cell phones for the time in anticipation or organized their résumés. Others stared intently at neon green papers that included a map of booths and a list of employers in order to plot their strategies for finding a job.

“I’m looking at the interesting jobs or jobs I’ve done before first,” freshman Kelsey Pruett said.

Junior Katie Allen took a different approach.

“I’m looking for a library job because I’ve taken library classes,” Allen said. “I really have no idea if I’ll be able to get a job today.”

About 700 students went to the Summer Jobs Fair, said Lou Ann Hanson, associate director of the CDC and leader of the Career Fair Team. This is a decrease from last year, when she said about 850 students attended.

Hanson said between 5 and 10 percent of attendees to the fair will get jobs.

Competition for these jobs is steep, but Pruett wasn’t worried because of her experience.

“I’ve been working since I was 14 and have had several positions in Bloomington,” Pruett said.

Thirty-seven employers attended the fair. The jobs were from a variety of fields. Positions included everything from library assistants, camp counselors and cashiers to telephone operators, bus operators, housekeepers and plasma center technicians.

Kelsie Hacker, recruitment coordinator for the IU Foundation Telefund, said they like to hire a lot of students.

However, with most of the employers who attended the fair having only one or two positions available, some students weren’t picky.

“I’ll take anything,” Pruett said.