Although still a freshman, Princeton chemical engineering student, Kojo Quaye, figured it wasn’t too early to get a jump on his post-graduation job search.

With that in mind, Quaye attended the Princeton’s 2010 Science and Technology Job Fair, held in Dillon Gym last Friday. “It’s really helpful to learn the steps I’m going to have to take later on,” Quaye said.

This year’s fair attracted 70 companies, non-profits and government agencies, up from the 45 that attended during the recession year of 2009. Among the presenters were Microsoft, Facebook, Sandia National Laboratories, NVIDIA, Schlumberger, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Environ.

Tyler Scriven, the head of recruiting for Palantir, a company that helps other organizations analyze and visualize data, said his Palo Alto-based firm was looking for talented software engineers.

“We want to hire the very best computer scientists, from Silicon-valley and around the world,” he said. “We started coming to Princeton last year because we think we might find those folks here.”

Princeton computer science alumnus, Eric Schlossberg, who graduated this past spring, returned to campus this fall as a representative for Yodle, a company that helps local businesses with online marketing and advertising.

“It used to be that you’d pick up the yellow pages if you wanted to find, say, a doctor or dentist,” he said. “But now you go online for that search. Businesses need help positioning themselves online and we help them do that. We’re here because we’re expanding rapidly and we need to find good people.”

Natalie Shoup, a junior majoring in operations research and financial engineering, said she was confident she would find something interesting to do next summer. She hopes to work in investment banking or at a risk management firm.

“There are a lot of good companies I want to talk to about internships next summer,” she said. “I’m excited to explore my options.”

The job fair was organized by the engineering school’s Office of Undergraduate Affairs and the University’s Office of Career Services.