Due to continued cleanup efforts in Hilton Coliseum, the annual Fall Career Fairs will be moved to the Scheman courtyard.

“It will still be a high-quality, trade show-type event,” said Tammy Stegman, career coordinator in College of Business Career Services.

The booths will be hosted in large, climate-controlled tents, complete with flooring and carpeting.

“I might not wear high heels, though,” said Kim Caponi, associate director for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Career Services. “The floor could be less even [than Hilton Coliseum.]”

Caponi said there will be enough space for the 180 exhibits coming, though. Some booths will be in Scheman Building itself, since they will be in Ames for both the Engineering and LAS/Business fairs.

“We had to go outside the box a little bit,” Stegman said, as there are not a lot of other options for events that large in Ames, and the Scheman Building itself had another reservation for the fair dates.

Nevertheless, Stegman expects it will be a good year for the career fairs with 180 companies registered for the LAS/Business fair alone. Stegman said the working title for the fairs has become “the most in-tents career fairs.”

The quick change of location, though, has cost Career Services significantly, Caponi said.

“We haven’t received the final cost yet, but I would guess it’s costing us at least double,” she said.

She also said the president’s office is in discussions of providing extra support, with possible aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We’re expecting a very tight year,” Caponi said.

Despite all of these setbacks, organization registration is up 7 percent from last fall.

“And we’re expecting even more to come in during the next two weeks,” Caponi said.

The dates of the fairs are so close to the beginning of the semester because they coincide with the recruiting calendars of the participating organizations, which are toward the beginning of their recruiting seasons.

“With bad weather you just never know; you can’t predict it,” Caponi said. “But it does give us a good idea of contingency plans if Hilton is not available again in the future.”

This is the second time the fairs have suffered from bad weather.

In the spring the fairs were hindered with a large blizzard that blew through Ames.

“It affected the number of organizations we had,” Caponi said. “Some just couldn’t make it. I’m sure it also affected student attendance.”

Though it hasn’t been finalized yet, Caponi said the Orange CyRide route will be used to drop students off by Scheman.

Fall Career Fairs:

Scheman Courtyard

Engineering: noon to 6 p.m., Sept. 21

Business / LAS: noon to 6 p.m., Sept. 22

Cost: Free, ISU ID is required for nametag