ORONO – As he stood in the middle of the University of Maine Career Fair on Wednesday afternoon, senior Josh Lagasse began to sweat.

“I’m completely stressed,” Lagasse said. “I’ve just been looking, taking it all in, and I’ve narrowed it down to 15 companies. And now I have to talk to them.”

Lagasse, a 22-year-old business and marketing major from Wells, was not alone in his trepidation. Around him, hundreds of other students wandered through the maze of 150 booths representing businesses from around the country, nodding shy hellos to recruiters and collecting brochures.

Looking sharp in a dark suit and pink tie, Lagasse carried a portfolio with several copies of his resume. He finally decided to approach Hannaford and Liberty Mutual Insurance, setting his sights high, he said.

“I’d like to stay in Maine, in the Portland area or the Bangor area,” Lagasse said before he turned and joined the stream of students, many of whom hoped to find part-time, summer or permanent employment before the end of the day.

A strong sense of optimism drowned out the anxiety in the air. A record number of companies from Maine and many other states, including Florida, Texas and Minnesota, traveled to Orono to seek UMaine students of all backgrounds and abilities.

The fair was held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the new UMaine Student Recreation and Fitness Center, and students enrolled at any college or university in Maine were invited to attend, along with UMaine alumni. About 1,500 job seekers were expected to attend, and more than a dozen of the companies planned to stay an extra day to conduct interviews.

Patty Counihan, director of the UMaine Career Center, said she was thrilled with the event.

“You hear that the economy is going south, and then you see this,” she said. “The economy is booming from what we’re seeing. Employers have lots and lots of jobs.”

The businesses at the fair represented fields from engineering and sciences to retail management and even the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The Peace Corps was looking for volunteers to serve around the world. Sweetser mental health organization sought social workers for its Maine offices. Weatherford International recruited engineers and geologists for its oil and gas operations in more than 100 countries, and the U.S. Army advertised hefty signing bonuses for nurses.

Patrick McVicker, a regional recruiter from Calabasas, Calif.-based ValleyCrest Cos., was looking for landscape horticulture or business majors. ValleyCrest, a newcomer to the fair, provides landscape architecture, development and maintenance services to clients ranging from the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas to Sea World in Orlando, Fla. The company also is known for its estate landscaping in Hollywood, where clients include Steven Spielberg, McVicker said.

“We go after the projects no one else can from a logistical standpoint and a financial standpoint,” he said. Professor Bill Mitchell, UMaine’s Landscape Horticulture Program coordinator, met McVicker at a national landscape competition last year and invited him to visit UMaine.

McVicker said the company is looking for long-term relationships with colleges and universities with landscape programs to see how those institutions’ curricula and students fit with the ValleyCrest philosophy.

Students praised the organization of the fair, noting that the UMaine Career Center had put a feature on its Web site that allowed them to enter their major and see which businesses might be interested.

Andrew Freye, a 23-year-old University of Southern Maine graduate, traveled from Yarmouth to attend the event because his job search “hasn’t been going so well,” he said.

“Most places want five to 10 years of experience,” Freye said. “Here, everybody knows you’re a college student, and they’re still interested.”