Kansas University hosted its annual job fair Wednesday, bringing in 86 employers from across the country and a line of students eager to hand out resumes. Among the companies were AT&T and Target, which both made significant layoffs at the beginning of this year.

Although the fair usually draws upward of 100 companies, the lower number of booths didn’t cause concern.

“This year we are very happy with the turnout considering the economic conditions,” said Megan Hill, associate director for Career Networks at KU. “The articles we are reading about career centers all over the country … indicate that student activity is up and employer participation is down. Here at KU, things seem to be going well.”

The University Career Fair is the largest job related event all year, and students are taking advantage of the opportunity.

“There’s not a lot of options out there,” said Jessica Smithwick, a journalism senior graduating next December. “The career fair is definitely helping, and showing some of the open doors that are hard to find just searching the Internet.”

Smithwick is just starting the job-hunting process, and hopes to eventually work in marketing.

Although many employers are facing economic hardships, not everyone is suffering. Daryl Nikkel is the director of selection and recruiting for Farm Credit, and said he was worried about finding enough new hires.

“This last year we grew at a 12 percent rate, so we are doing very, very well,” Nikkel said. “Nothing has changed for us.”

Hill said they were expecting a larger than usual turnout of students at the event, because of the state of the economy. The event was held at the Kansas Union.