WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and SportsUW-Stout's annual career conference underway

UW-Stout's annual career conference underway

Eau Claire (WQOW)- Hundreds of students or recent grads were seen job hunting at UW-Stout today. The University's annual career conference is underway. 

WQOW found one recent grad who's hoping for better luck the second time around.

Patrick Martin says he never expected to attend this career fair.

Two weeks before he was set to begin his new job, Patrick said he found himself back at square one, "They were going to bring me on, I was pretty much through the interview process and they had a hiring freeze. Like, right where the economy does the "V" thing? Yeah, that's when I got the call saying, "We can't bring you on anymore."

Once that happened, Patrick, who graduated from Stout with a degree in Graphic Communications Management, went job searching again.

Patrick said,  "I started making my rounds through my contacts and just kind of started the job hunt again, when nothing turned up I quick found a little part time job and luckily was able to hold onto that all summer."

A recent report from the Labor Department indicates the number of job seekers is growing fastest among Americans with higher education. Since the recession started, the number of job seekers with bachelor's degrees has risen to 2.2 million.

An employer at the job fair, Phil Jacobson of Capital Safety Group, said, "We've been hearing from students that it's a very difficult job market for them, many of them have come back, even though they graduated last may and are still looking for positions."

Another employer, Ashley Bauman of Bosch Packaging Technology, commented,  "It is very competitive, any job we post, whether it's for a new grad or for a more seasoned professional or something like that, it's all been very competitive and we've had a lot of qualified applicants."

While employers admit the job market is a little tighter than students or grads hoped, they say they were impressed with how prepared job seekers have been.

Jacobson continued to say, "Students are very interested in what it takes to get a job, probably in the past they may have taken for granted that jobs were available, now they're more willing to listen to what is it that employers are looking for and really understand, what's the best way for me to get a position?"

More than 200 employers are at the career fair which runs through Thursday.