When Eric VanVeelen arrived for fall classes, he found that most of the job opportunities in Gainesville had already been snatched up.
VanVeelen and other UF students attended the Part-Time Job Fair on Thursday on the Reitz Union North Lawn in search of a way to fill their wallets.
"It's hard to find work anywhere else, especially this late in the semester," VanVeelen said.
More than 1,000 students browsed the displays and spoke with 24 local off-campus and on-campus employers, said Ja'Net Glover, assistant director for career events for the Career Resource Center.
The center co-sponsored the event with Student Financial Affairs.
Last year's attendance level was about the same, Glover said.
Students strolled from employer to employer beneath a large white tent, chatting with different companies, collecting fliers and filling out paperwork.
Zubin Kachhi, a UF sophomore, said rising food and gas prices forced him into a job search.
Laura Gonzalez, a UF freshman, needed spending money and a job that was flexible enough to fit around her class schedule.
Other students said they were less concerned about earning money than finding something constructive to do with their time.
Alexander Rothschild, an economics junior, said he found what he was looking for at the fair: an instructor position for test preparation with Kaplan.
Other employers included retailers such as Buckle, which offers sales and marketing internships; Publix; the YMCA; Creative Catering; and a few on-campus positions, such as working at a library circulation desk.
Donna Kolb, assistant director in the Office for Student Financial Affairs, said students in search of an on-campus position would have a more difficult time landing a job.
Almost all on-campus jobs will go to those who qualify for Federal Work-Study, Kolb said.
The program pays 75 percent of qualifying students' wages, so hiring four work-study employees would cost a department the same as hiring one who doesn't qualify, said Kristy Mills, an office assistant in the Human Resources Office of the George A. Smathers Libraries.
Students who don't qualify for the program will not be considered for jobs the libraries are looking to fill, Mills said.
"It's definitely more of the focus this semester because of budgets, money the way it is," she said.
