Throngs of students dressed in their best business attire showed up to sell themselves to the more than 150 recruiters showcased at the LAS/Business Spring Career Day 2000.

Battling through long lines in what organizers said was the largest spring career day to date, Jamie Boehm, junior in agronomy, began her search for the perfect summer internship at Wednesday’s job fest.

Boehm said she made some progress, although she was not sure if anything would pan out.

“I got to talk to some companies I was interested in,” she said. “It was good to do some networking.”

Many students were taking advantage of the open job market Wednesday, and some recruiters said they are also feeling the heat as competition for quality employees increases.

Teresa Wermager, manufacturing engineer for Maytag, said recruiting at career day is critical to finding future employees.

Wermager says Maytag chooses to recruit at Iowa State because of the caliber of students.

“Everybody wants the best,” she said.

Interns at Maytag often go on to full-time positions in the company, Wermager said.

“Recruiting interns benefits us and the students,” she said. “The students are gaining valuable work experience, and we’re benefiting by training potential full-time employees.”

Patrick Duval, operations consultant for McDonald’s, said attending career days at universities is an important recruiting tool.

“Hiring interns and recent college graduates is a way of bringing new energy and new ideas to the company,” Duval said. “When a company stops growing, it goes sour.”

Instead of companies offering only internships, as was the case at past spring career days, participants in Spring Career Day 2000 were recruiting both interns and full-time employees.

Melody Jennings, career day chairwoman, said this spring’s career day was expanded in order to be more inclusive.

The decision to expand career day came about because both employers and students wanted it, said Jennings, graduate student in industrial relations.

“Overall, it turned out much better than expected,” she said.

Angie Ochs, senior in agricultural business, said she prefers attending career days to searching for jobs through other means because it is a more personal process.

“It’s a good way to get used to interacting with professionals,” she said.

And despite the competition, both Boehm and Ochs both said they are optimistic about the current job market.

“I’m looking forward to graduating and getting into the workforce,” Boehm said.