The resumés that Jeff Jenkins, a BYU student majoring in information systems, handed out at the school's career fair Wednesday might show what kind of job opportunities await new graduates.

Jenkins already has a job with an Idaho-based Web analysis company, but said he's looking to take advantage of a market that will hire 17.4 percent more new graduates this year, according to numbers released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

"I'm scanning to see what's out there," Jenkins said. "I'm looking for something better than what I've already got."

With resumés in hand, more than 6,000 students filled the school's student center to shake hands with more than 170 employers.

"It's an extremely stressful time," Brigham Young University senior Jed Lloyd said. "I'm just trying to figure out what company is going to be a good fit for me."

That stress of finding work after school should be somewhat relieved this year. The NACE expects 2007 to be the best hiring period for new graduates in five years, according to its Job Outlook 2007 Fall Preview Survey.

According to the survey, employers cited growth of individual organizations combined with retirements and high attrition rates as the primary reasons they expected an increase in new graduate hires. The group predicted a 15 percent increase in such hires in 2006.

"The economy is very good right now," Rich Cox, the fair's organizer, said. "A lot of employers are in the hiring mode."

Clay Reed, corporate recruiting manager for Coldwater Creek, said his company is going through a period of growth, doubling its revenue from last year and planning on doubling the number of its employees by 2010.

"The hiring has to keep up with the growth," said Elain Poucher, the regional recruiting manager for Protiviti.

Poucher said the risk consultant company has tripled its employees -- from 700 to 2,200 -- since its founding in 2002.

Cox said this year's turnout was one of the largest at BYU. The number of employers attending can range between 100 and 170, he said.

"It goes with the job market," Cox said. "The last couple of years have been very good."

Aaron Falk can be reached at 344-2559 or afalk@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B10.