DEREKH FROUDE/Arizona Daily Wildcat Michelle Eton, philosophy junior, chats with Kristi Blass, a New York Life representative, at UA's Career Fair in McKale Center yesterday.

Students flocked to McKale Center in waves yesterday to visit 120 prospective employers during a career fair that looks to be much bigger than last year's fair, which fell on Sept. 11.

Students lined the ramp all around McKale Center before the fair opened yesterday, said Susan Miller, Career Services coordinator of marketing and special events.

Miller expected 2,000 to 2,500 students would attend Career Fair yesterday, with a slight drop off in attendance today.

Of the 128 prospective employers waiting to meet the students, 120 plus one PETsMART dog showed up.

The career fair was cut from three days to two this year because of the slowing economy, Miller said.

Government recruiters made up a quarter of the employers at this year's fair, which some consider a sign of a weak job market.

"The best part is just to see all the candidates coming out for jobs, even though it's a tight market," said Sara Schroeder, a 2001 UA alumna who is now a buyer technician for PETsMART.

Schroeder and fellow recruiters at her booth are looking to hire 560 employees for stores across the United States and Canada.

Within the first three and a half hours, the fair had been open, about 50 people had stopped by the U.S. Air Force recruitment booth for information, said Robert Kitto, officer accessions recruiter.

U.S. Customs Service officer Rick Spring and fellow customs employees are looking to attract 15,000 applicants to work on the United States and Canadian border, from Maine to Washington.

IRS recruiter Denis Huot said he'd had about 60 visitors at his booth in less than four hours. The IRS is looking to hire hundreds of employees, primarily accounting majors, once the federal budget is approved in October.

"There has been a tremendous increase in government services regardless of agency," Huot said.

But Peace Corps recruiter Jeff Ogren has seen a dip in the numbers of people interested in oversea service recently. He attributes the smaller number of applications to fears resulting from terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, among other factors. About 20 students had stopped by the Peace Corps' booth three hours into the fair.

UA students attending the fair dressed in everything from torn shorts and T-shirts to suits. Some came with briefcases stuffed with resumˇs, others with backpacks.

Sameer Gurav, a reliability and quality engineering master's student standing in line to talk to a recruiter, said he had been having a hard time at the fair finding many employers who are looking for someone in his specific field. Gurav is set to graduate in December.

Vanessa Choate, a management information systems and operations management junior, attended the career fair this year and last and said this year was not as crowded with students as she expected. Choate still got some good tips out of the fair, she said.

"It's good to get out and cool to make contacts," she said.

Choate met a female IBM employee that she hopes to e-mail for answers to her job questions and other questions in her field, where women are the minority, she said.

Both this year and last, recruiters for various government jobs were slotted for about 30 tables.

Not everyone showed up last year.

UA employees were setting up for Career Fair in McKale last year when the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon, World Trade Center, and what was believed to be an attempted attack on the White House, took place.

Recruiters were already in Tucson, setting up for the fair and 1,443 students showed up on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I'm surprised as many showed up as did," Miller said.

The career fair continues today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at McKale Memorial Center. Students should bring their CatCard for signing in.