With the summer session coming to a close and the fall semester rapidly approaching, students and graduates alike must wonder how hard it will now be to find work.

Jean Callary, assistant director of career planning and placement, said it’s important to get started right away.

She recommended using the Victor eRecruiting system, which is available to all NIU students past and present.

All registered NIU students have an account with Victor eRecruiting.

Victor is an employment resource that allows employers to post job listings and filter through résumés. Callary described it as “a tamed-down version of Monster[.com].”

She also said several hundred positions will be filled by campus recruiters.

It’s not important that students “know for sure what they want to do, because [campus recruiting] is their opportunity to learn what’s out there,” she said.

Callary described the present as being a great time to shop for a job.

The job fair, scheduled for Oct. 15, is another resource that Callary recommended. She said those interested in finding work should prepare now.

The job market itself is looking better, Callary said.

“[It’s] warming up; it’s not what it was a few years ago, [but] there are jobs out there,” she said.

Callary asked former graduates what they could have done to make their job searches more effective. Most of them said they wished they had talked to more employers, she said.

“We provide these [free] resources,” she said. “It’s the best way to find employment.”

Victor eRecruiting has 477 jobs posted to NIU.

“By the time [fall arrives], there should probably be between 150 and 200 recruiters at the job fair,” Callary said.