Eastern students had the chance to join the staff of State Farm Insurance yesterday.

State Farm, along with many other businesses, set up information booths at the Multi-Cultural Career Expo in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

These booths presented information for internships or jobs that the onlookers might be interested in.

State Farm got a lot of attention from the students browsing the different business tables. Jackie Townsend, system analyst, said the company was looking for interns, systems candidates, accounting and actuary communications representatives, among many other different jobs. John Marr and David Wasser both work at the company and are Eastern alumni.

Representatives of State Farm liked the diversity aspect of the fair.

“State Farm works hard to build a diverse candidate pool and try to get that diversity here, along with at other fairs. Diversity is very important to State Farm,” said Laura Books, State Farm human resources representative.

Pablo Lara, construction manager for Ameren Engineering west of Peoria, said that quite a few people who come to the fair end up getting jobs.

“About one-third of the people we have contact with end up working,” he said.

He also said that he liked the diversity aspect because he had a multi-cultural background himself and Ameren wanted to make their ethnic background stronger. Answers to real-world questions and experiences are what he brought to inquiring students.

A Denny’s representative said they will hire people for their management training program.

Edward Labinjo, the area manager, said on most college campuses they visit, they end up hiring about 20 percent of the students they talk to. Interviews at the restaurant are set up through this system.

“Everybody we talked to today will come to our management training program. People with different skills and who want a different type of job we transfer to our corporate office,” Labinjo said.

Venkata Tworakavi, an architect at Microsoft Gold Certified, said this is the company’s first fair at Eastern. He said he wanted to get as many people as possible for software development. The company has visited fairs all across the country, including most recently Wright State, the University of Texas, the University of Louisiana and Lafayette.

“We look for program analysts, which can assist in program development,” Tworakavi said.

Charles McLean, the national recruiter for Inroads, said they have about 500 people interviewing for their 2008 internships.

“The person applying for the internship should have career interests in business, health, information technology, and engineering. All we ask is for a 2.8 GPA and at least two summers remaining in the student’s undergraduate education,” said McLean.

Inroads came to the fair because the regional recruiter requested to participate. This was the company’s first time at Eastern’s multi-cultural fair as well.

The human resources coordinator for Menards, Renae Edwards, said they looked for internships and manager trainees. She said since she has been with the Effingham business, they have visited two Eastern career fairs.

The campus recruiter for Walgreens, Milena Lopez, said they recruit at Eastern throughout the entire year, visiting the all-campus career fair and internship fairs. However, this was their first time at this particular fair. They were looking for positions with retail management, corporate opportunities for full-time and internships.

The City of Springfield Police Department was mostly looking for patrolmen, which is where most new members have to start.

“This is all I do. I am a full-time recruiter and try to get candidates for the position of police officer,” Cliff Bell said. “I was invited for it (the fair), and I came there primarily in an attempt to recruit more minorities for the jobs. The department is trying to get more diversity.”

Out of a hiring process, he said about 10-15 percent of people actually get a job as a patrolperson.

The history of this particular career fair goes back to Fall 2004.

Linda Moore, director of Career Services, said the fair was requested by the EIU Black Alumni at their 2004 reunion.

“They wanted to get employers to respond to them, so we held the event and had a really good turnout. It is a good outreach to students that go around campus,” said Moore.

She said the turnout of minorities at the fair usually runs different temperatures each year.

“It runs hot and cold. This year was, it was lukewarm, last year it was hot, and years before that it was cold,” she said. “However, students that do go are pleased. A lot of the businesses hire international students and there are a lot at the university. International students showed up this year and were very happy with the outcome.”