After a few years of sluggish employer attendance, there were some new businesses and opportunities for students to check out at Wednesday’s Business/Liberal Arts and Sciences Fall Career Day 2003.

“Students feel they see the same things year after year,” said Heather Johnson Huntley, business career services program coordinator and adviser for the Career Day.

“We do have some new companies here this year that have not been on campus before.”

Some of those new employers included Des Moines’ KCCI News Channel 8 and pharmaceutical company Ortho-McNeiland Tate and Lyle, a leading global carbohydrate ingredients manufacturer.

Johnson Huntley said employer attendance at Career Day has been down in the past couple of years due to the lagging economy.

“We thought it was going to be another slow year, but in the past month things started picking up,” Johnson Huntley said.

“Many employers called and showed an interest in attending.”

Although more than 130 companies were present for Career Day, students didn’t have much trouble picking out the ones that fit their specific career goals.

“I’m looking for a research position in biological science, basically where I can work in a lab,” said Amy Radermacher, senior in chemical engineering. “Mayo Clinic was very interested in showing me around their labs.”

Radermacher said she had been attending Career Day for many years because she was required to attend for her Engineering 101 class.

“I’ve gotten used to the pressure of talking to company representatives,” Radermacher said. “All the people are very friendly and personable.”

Radermacher said she plans on attending graduate school once she graduates, but she wants to keep her options open in case her plans change.

Brooke Winton, senior in liberal studies, said she was a little nervous at first because she didn’t have a specific area of study in college.

But many of the companies she looked at were more than willing to hire liberal arts students.

“I talked to New York Life [Insurance Company] and they sounded pretty interesting,” said Winton, who is looking for an entry level job in human resources.

“They offer full internships and they do training.”

Students aren’t the only ones who benefit from Career Day. Business representatives get the chance to see what the upcoming graduates can offer their companies. Although some will conduct interviews Thursday, others will sort through the resumes they received and call the most qualified applicants for phone screenings.

Kimberly-Clark, parent company of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, has sent representatives to Iowa State for ten years now, said Dave Williamson, representative for the company.

Williamson was on campus looking for students majoring in management information systems who are interested in internships.

“Historically, [Career Days] have been pretty good at gathering recruits,” Williamson said. “We usually get an ISU student every couple of years.”