Employers may be cutting back hours or jobs during the global recession but businesses and schools lined the gym at Terry Fox secondary school Tuesday to entice students to sign up in their industries.

About 3,000 Tri-City students in Grades 10, 11 and 12 talked with professionals and took brochures during the annual District Career Fair to learn about what options are available during the economic meltdown.

Many students like Ashley Sun, 17, a Grade 12 student at Fox, already have a game plan for when they graduate but they're also keeping their eyes peeled for different opportunities in case things don't work out.

Organized by Tina Ahooja-Anderson, Fox's career resource facilitator, the fair "is good because we can speak directly with a lot of professionals at once," said Sun, who intends to pursue an education degree at SFU. "It gives me a lot of other ideas for careers."

Still, other students such as Teddi-anna Braniski, a Grade 12 student at CABE, are undecided about their future. "I don't want to be stuck doing one thing," she said, noting she would like to become a massage therapist. "I'm looking around all the time."

High school students — including many from Riverside, Dr. Charles Best, Centennial, Port Moody, Heritage Woods, Gleneagle and Pinetree — had 40 minutes to blitz the gym for their research and view the dozens of displays from, for example, BC Ambulance, BCIT, Pacific Coast Aviation, Katimavik and Nimbus, a school of recording arts. Vancouver Community College's department of auto collision and refinishing even used a TV showing sports cars and blasted music from AC/DC to lure the students to its booth.

Bali Mann, director of admissions at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, said the career fair is a good way to promote his industry. "Especially with the 2010 Olympics coming up, there are lot of opportunities out there — not just restaurants but hotels, product testing, menu engineering. You can travel the world with it."

Ron Coreau of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association said, despite the economic downturn with construction jobs, "we don't want to stop training like we did in the ’90s," he said. "That left us with a shortage.... Young people are aware of the opportunities, not just in trades but, also, in insurance, bonding, designers and engineers."

And Robert Jackman, program co-ordinator with Mineral Resources Education, admitted the market isn't what is used to be. "It's not so well, to be honest. It's a cyclical thing and there's not a lot of demand."

Still, training is key as "lots of retirements will be coming up," he said. "We want to dispel the myth that mining isn't just about a hole in the ground. There are lot of other things associated with it."