Though career fairs are over within a few days, it takes nearly the entire year to prepare for them.

Career fairs are designed to accommodate students with the opportunity of networking with well-known companies including The Walt Disney World Co., CHS Inc., Wal-Mart Corporations, amongst many others. Career Services Director of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Mike Gaul says, “Planning begins immediately after the current year’s event — especially in regards to booking dates for future events.”

The Iowa State University Business/LAS Career Fairs are organized entirely by a student committee. The student committee, or the Career Services Assistants staff, promote career development programs for the entire student body.

“Most work for me in my office and others are part of a Career Day committee out of the Ag Business program — one of several sponsoring departments and clubs associated with the event,” Gaul said.

More than 130 companies have confirmed attendance at the 2010 Fall Ag Career Day, and an average of 250 companies are expected at the Fall/Spring Engineering Career Fair.

So how are the companies chosen? Well, they aren’t. It’s basically a self-selection process.

“There is a registration process through the Career Management Service system,” said Lamont Fields, graduate assistant for the Career Services office of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and co-chair of the Business/Liberal Arts & Sciences Career Fair committee. “Employers use [Career Service Management System] to register for both the Fall and Spring Career Fairs.”

CMS is used to update listings of internships and full-time jobs, manage interviewing schedules, and track employer research and events.

“The ISU CMS system has been well-received by our students. It has also been a tremendous asset to the mission of our office and the recruiters that use it as well,” Gaul said.

High employment rates are more than expected as Iowa State hosts the largest career fairs in the nation. A post-graduation status survey conducted in 2007-08 show that an average of 70 percent of students from all six colleges at Iowa State are employed after graduating, while 4.8 percent were still seeking major-related positions, and a mere 0.9 percent were not seeking.

“Our Career Fair numbers look very strong once again for fall 2010. We are fortunate to host the largest event of its kind in the country with nearly 160 companies and organizations in attendance,” Gaul said.