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Juanita Johnson graduated from AIB College of Business and immediately went to work for MetLife Inc. Nineteen and a half years later, downsized and downhearted, she returned to AIB for the school’s annual spring career fair.

“If you’re an alumnus,” Johnson said, “they will help you for life.”

She’s not the only AIB alum calling on her alma mater for help. Ask Jane DeHaven, the school’s director of career services, if her office is seeing more action these days, and the answer is “Oh yes.”

“When Dec. 1 hit, the phone started ringing,” DeHaven said. “We have seen that continue. Every week, we send an e-mail to those people who are active in our online job search, and that list has gone from 100 to 175.”

AIB holds its fair just for students and alumni, and this year was a real-world example of a prime topic at any business school: the law of supply and demand. Demand for jobs is up. Supply is down.

A year ago, 87 employers showed up at 2500 Fleur Drive in Des Moines, hooks baited for fresh recruits. This year, it was closer to 50.

Some of those present weren’t even looking to reel in any catches. Claudia Schabel represented Principal Financial Group Inc., which has laid off a lot of people recently. She made it clear to the inquirers that the company was not hiring.

“We might have some positions that will need to be replaced,” she said, “but we can’t replace the people we laid off right now.”

Schabel was looking toward the distant horizon, where a safe harbor must appear eventually. “We’re talking about opportunities we’ll have in the future,” she said. “To attract top performers, a company cannot just show up once. It has to be a long-term commitment.”

On the other hand, DeHaven noted, “some companies, even after layoffs, are still looking for entry-level employees.”

So you never know. You have to keep looking, because what else are you going to do?

Well, maybe you could start thinking of yourself as a temp or a temp-for-hire. “We’re swamped,” said Emily Vollmuth, representing Robert Half International Inc. at the AIB event. “We’re the busiest we’ve been in a year and a half.”

Vollmuth’s team hires just for Wells Fargo & Co., and is placing 30 to 50 people per week, she said. Other Robert Half teams also are busy. Companies especially like the temp-for-hire concept, Vollmuth said. “They like to try them out and decide whether to hire them after 90 days or so.”

It was the first career fair for Michael Worrell of Des Moines since being laid off in February by Dickten Masch Plastics LLC in Ankeny. “I started looking immediately,” said Worrell. He signed up for daily e-mails from job search sites, has talked in person to recruiters, including Robert Half, and goes to indeed.com, which searches job boards.

“In the past, I was always able to find a job in a couple of weeks,” he said. This time, “it’s much more difficult.”

Worrell is not feeling picky right now. “Anywhere in the United States” would be fine with him. Or, now that he thinks about it, “Honestly, anywhere that speaks English.”

Johnson, the ex-MetLifer, had no particular prospects to report after the career fair. She’s still working with a local headhunter and has applied for several jobs online without success.

“The job market is so different now,” she said, after two decades of being safely, comfortably employed. “I took my resume to employers personally back then.”

A Cresco native, Johnson would like to stay in Iowa. “I trust God will lead me to the right position,” she said. “I have a big family, and they’re all praying for me.

“I think there’s a job out there for me.”