With layoffs mounting and few companies hiring, this might seem an odd time for the 2009 Career & Workforce Expo.

Not so.

Most of the 1,400 people attending Wednesday’s event, sponsored by Calhoun Community College Tech Prep Consortium and the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, were high school students. They came from Morgan, Limestone, Lawrence and Madison counties.

“This is more to educate the students about entering the work force,” said BP Human Resources Adviser Kevin Kuykendall. “Our company is not currently hiring or accepting applications, but we’ve been very busy giving out information.”

The issue of whether there are immediate job prospects weighed on many who attended the Expo, held at Calhoun.

“The main question we get,” Kuykendall said, “is, ‘Are you hiring?’ ”

One person asking the question was Bonnie Pridmore, who will graduate from Calhoun this year.

“I was planning to start my own business, but with the economy like this I decided to go back to school,” Pridmore said.

With few employers hiring, Pridmore — like many job seekers in attendance — was asking employers how to maximize her odds of getting a job.

Forty-five employers had booths at the Expo. Not many were actively hiring, but most of the students attending were several months from being on the job market. Almost twice as many students attended as last year.

“I’m not too worried,” said Jason Little, a Calhoun student training to be a machinist. “There are not many people qualified to do what I do.”

He was hopeful of landing a job at NASA, which had a booth at the Expo.

Fred Brown, also at Calhoun, said the economy worries him.

“There are not a lot of jobs out there, but they are saying if we fit their needs, we have a chance.”

Cynthia Hill, marketing director at The Terrace at Priceville, said many students expressed an interest in nursing and culinary jobs at the retirement center.

“We always are looking for care assistants,” Hill said. “One of the things I like to hear is that they like the elderly, like talking with them. They tend to be great workers.”

Not all employers were so upbeat.

“We’ve seen a lot of folks,” said Glenda Waller, EEO organization development specialist at Huntsville Utilities. “I think they may be more interested in freebies than jobs.”

She had distributed many application forms, she said, but not received any back.

Many students stopped at the Nucor booth, said Lupe Ardery, and seemed disappointed to hear Nucor is not hiring production employees now.

“I told them Nucor has a no-layoff policy,” Ardery said, “and that interested them.”

She also told them Nucor does have openings for systems analysts, electricians and power-systems engineers. Many students quizzed her on how to obtain the qualifications for the jobs.

“That’s valuable,” Ardery said. “They are learning how to increase their value to employers on down the road.”

See more photos here.