More than 600 attend Hofstra job fair

In her sophomore year, with the economy and job market plummeting, Alexandra Lepore, 21, worried that her college education might not pay off. Now a senior, she was one of the first in line at Wednesday's job and internship fair at Hofstra University.

She had some cause for optimism going in - the economy is slowly recovering and research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers indicate an expected 13.5 percent uptick in new college-grad hiring this year.

After speaking with several potential employers, she said she felt hopeful. Some said they would call her on Friday, but she plans to e-mail them Thursday to reaffirm interest, said Lepore, 21, an international business major from Oyster Bay.

She was one of more than 600 students - ranging from freshmen to those in graduate school - meeting with about 90 employers, including Deloitte, Target, Enterprise Holdings, The NPD Group of Port Washington and North Shore LIJ Health System, based in Manhasset.

Despite the positive signs, Pearl Kamer, chief economist for the Long Island Association, said students are "not going to breeze in" to jobs. Any increase in entry-level hiring "will occur off a very depressed base. It's going to be a very competitive job market," said Kamer.

Indeed, plenty of freshmen and sophomores were expected to attend the fair looking for a career head start, this as they're now viewing internships as "feeders" to full-time jobs, said Fred Burke, executive director of Hofstra's career center.

Jo-Ann Rey, human resources recruiter from accounting firm Margolin, Winer & Evens Llp in Garden City, was seeking candidates for both full-time jobs and internships. With an upturn in area business, she said, the firm has been hiring 10 entry-level staff accountants from this year's graduating class, up from six to eight in earlier years. She said she also had her eye out for promising students for class of 2012 hiring, which starts in the fall.

Seeking an internship, hopefully in financial analysis, was Betty Guo, 22, of Shaanxi province, China, and a first-year graduate student working on a master's in finance. She said several recruiters told her to follow up and apply online, but she's also taking advice she got from the school's career center and asked for business cards so she can follow up with people she met.

Vincent Donato, 21, a senior marketing major from East Rockaway, said he was glad to hear of entry-level positions that offered training and career growth. He went into the fair with a sense that hiring might be a little better than previous years. Besides, he said. "It's cheaper to hire me than those with years of experience."