For many St. Olaf seniors, the annual "100 Day March" held this past Saturday marks the onset of true panic regarding post-graduation plans. However, approximately 87 seniors helped fight this panic by attending the Minnesota Private College Association's job fair, which took place on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Held this year at Touchstone Energy Place in the St. Paul RiverCentre, the fair boasted representatives from over 200 companies. Approximately 1200 seniors from Minnesota's 15 private colleges were given the morning to visit with prospective employers and interview for available positions.

This year's job fair seems to have been a success for the St. Olaf seniors in attendance. "The feedback I had was good to excellent," said Gary Anderson, director of Career Development Center (CDC). "The number of interviews surprised me," he said. "Prospects are good for St. Olaf students."

Anderson stressed the importance of preparation to achieving success at the job fair. "The students who were prepared did very, very well. [Those] who had gone through our workshops, prepared benefit statements and researched the companies did the best." He added, "Recruiters [at the job fair] said that students seemed to be more well-prepared than in the past."

Anderson's sentiments were echoed by Pat Smith, associate director of the CDC, who stated that this year's job fair was a vast improvement over the same event held last year. "This is the highest number of employers we've ever had, and it was a much more diverse group than we've ever had. [The fair] was much more wide-reaching-more opportunities for more majors." In addition, Smith said, "This year there was plenty of time for students. Even the more popular booths had manageable lines, which gave students more time to talk with employers."

Senior Van Do found the job fair to be a worthwhile experience. "The lines weren't as bad as I thought they would be-I thought it was very well organized," Do said, adding "I felt more comfortable interviewing there because there was not so much follow-up; I liked the instantaneous nature of it. I also thought it was kind of neat to see who the competition was."