Employers Jostle For Applicants At One Job Fair

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Here's something you don't hear every day: companies fighting over job applicants.

And yet there were so many employers at an Illinois Institute of Technology career fair on Thursday some of them had to be turned away.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports on which fields put the job-seekers in the driver's seat.

Benro Adeyemo is getting his master's in computer technology. If the response from employers at this career fair is any indication, he'll have a job before he graduates in May.

He says he felt like a kid in a candy store.

"They're talking from $65 to $80 (thousand) a year," Adeyemo said at IIT's career fair.

Students like Adeyemo could have his pick of jobs because there were 168 companies from around the country filling every space in every room; in fact, nearly a dozen employers had to be turned away.

Altogether, the companies were offering 3,100 positions, up from 2,800 they had last year. The positions include engineering, architecture and IT spots, with the salaries ranging from about $35,000 for new graduates to $150,000 for alums with experience.

Companies especially were looking to fill anything that has to do working on the Web. Recruiter Chuck Radcliff of Project Leadership Associates was looking to fill 20 positions – immediately.

The need, he says, is a sign of the times.

"We're seeing the economy finally turning around, and a lot of companies are trying to play catch up," Radcliff says.

If you weren't a student of alum of IIT you couldn't attend the fair, but recruiters suggested a couple of helpful websites for others: Simplyhired and Indeed.