Jack Adams Hall filled up with hopeful students Oct. 30 looking to gain a leg up on the rest of the competition in securing employment after graduation.

The Bi-Annual Career Expo put on each semester by the SF State Career Center drew 25 percent fewer employers this and last semester than in the past, according to Career Center Director Jack Brewer This year a much younger crowd attended than in previous years.

"There's been, especially, a lot of juniors and sophomores," Christina Ramirez, human resources manager for Cintas Corporation, said. "They're really concerned about the market, so they're trying to get ahead of the game."

Ramirez said that due to the incredibly competitive job market, Cintas, a uniform supply company, has been able to be more selective in whom they hire.

"The bar is so high, and there are so many applicants, that we are allowed to be more meticulous," Ramirez said.

Students in attendance said that networking at events like the expo is one of the things they are doing to increase their chances of getting hired once they receive their degree.

"It's gotten quite competitive," 23-year-old computer science major Duc Nguyen said of the current job market.

Nguyen explained that, in his experience, employers are looking for college graduates who have already done internships or have work experience.

When asked what steps he is taking to ensure that he gets hired after graduating in the spring of 2011, Nguyen said, "This is one of them. A lot of my colleagues are waiting until the last minute, and I think the right way to approach it is to get on it early, so when you graduate, you are that much more ready."

San Bruno Target store team leader Javad Hadizadeh said that Target is seeing an influx of applications for employment, and he credits this to the economy putting pressure on job seekers to broaden their search to a wider array of fields.

"There's a lot of people applying that haven't considered retail in the past, and we're happy with that," Hadizadeh said.

Among companies participating in the career expo were Kraft Foods, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Disney, Walgreens, Verizon Wireless, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Department of Public Safety.