BYU Career Placement Services is helping more and more alumni and even those outside the university family, career counselor Monte Marshall said. That was evident at the career fair, especially when Marshall ran into a 30-something friend of his who just lost a job.

On the boom side, the FDIC could hire 200 to 300 bank examiners this year, said Steve Ashton, a bank examiner based in Salt Lake City. Others will be hired to work on bank liquidations.

"The public really hears about only 20 percent of the (bank) problems," Ashton said. "The FDIC is orchestrating cures before problems hit the public eye, before they ever hit full-blown crisis mode."

Other apparently flourishing agencies at the fair included the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, not to mention the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

Gordon Brennan and about 20 other BYU-Idaho students boarded a 5 a.m. bus for the career fair. A 23-year-old business management major from Hood River, Ore., Brennan already had an appointment with Boeing next month but jumped at the opportunity for an earlier chat with someone from the company.

"I feel pretty confident there will still be plenty of opportunities in the economy," he said, "especially helping companies come up with new ideas to help them get through the recession."

E-mail: twalch@desnews.com