About 1,000 students passed through this year's student-run Careers for Cats Expo, hoping to find the perfect job or internship to earn some money.
Target, OfficeMax, Macy's and 64 other companies turned out yesterday to offer internships and full-time positions to postgraduate students.
The companies set up booths in the Grand Ballroom, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on the third floor of the Student Union Memorial Center for the career expo.
Coordinators had expected more than 1,400 students to attend. Although their expectations were not met, companies were not disappointed.
"It's not necessarily the number of students interested but the quality of the candidates, which has been very high today," said Eric Knott, market recruiter for Target. "We do recruiting all over the state so you guys give the Sun Devils something to compete with."
Businesses accepted resumˇs and told students, regardless of their majors, about the opportunities they offered.
"We are here to recruit and make sure we are able to provide opportunities for the community," said George Castro, OfficeMax store manager.
The event, put on by Students in Free Enterprise, Southwest Retail Center and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is geared mostly toward retailing students.
Ronit Rosenthal and Melinda Peterson, retailing and consumer sciences seniors, were excited to see the different opportunities available in their field of interest.
"There has been a great turnout, and there are a lot of different and diverse companies here," they said.
The event has been held annually in the spring for the last four or five years and is the only event of this nature open to all majors, said Amanda Paque, co-coordinator of the expo.
"This is an awesome event run by students for those that want to get into planning for their careers, no matter what major," said Judy Hakiel, co-president of SIFE.
Daniel Halimi, a philosophy senior, enjoyed networking at the expo.
"I am interested in a majority of the companies here, and you just have to talk to people and they will give you the information you need. This is a good way to land a pretty solid job to get you on your way," he said.
Agricultural-related businesses, such as the Department of Agriculture and the Maricopa County Assessor's Office were present at the event, which interested some students.
"I'm excited that there are a lot of agriculture field-related opportunities," said Bonnie Jones, a veterinary science senior.
Mike Berryhill, agriculture specialist and recruiter for the Maricopa County Assessor's Office, said the UA is the best place to go if you want to find students who know agriculture.
"Students interested in agriculture usually have it in their blood. They know it when they see it, and those are the people we need, so we knew this was the best place to find an agrarian," Berryhill said.
Xavier Guerrero, an engineering senior, enjoyed the expo, but he had one complaint about the lack of brownies and other treats, adding that he could understand why they were absent.
"The frosting could throw the event into bedlam; people would get their sticky fingers all over everything. But they could serve those Japanese treats with the edible rice paper. They would be filling and productive," he said.