KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tom O'Dea dressed for the hunt.

His tie, perfectly knotted, lay neatly over the buttons on his pressed white shirt. His buffed black shoes complemented his charcoal-gray suit.

The 22-year-old Overland Park, Kan., resident had gone to the University of Kansas Career Center in April seeking something college career counseling specialists say is plentiful this year — employment.

"I hear there are a lot of available jobs out there," said O'Dea, a marketing major.

In fact, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which has monitored employment availability for college graduates for half a century, reports that the class of 2006 will graduate into the best job market in six years.

With baby boomers retiring, an economy on the rebound from the post-Sept. 11 slump and a technology upturn after the 2000 dot-com bust, employers nationwide are projecting they will hire nearly 15 percent more college graduates this year than a year ago. And many of this year's hires will be paid more, too.

Major employers of new college graduates, such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Lockheed Martin, project they will fill, respectively, 7,000 and 4,400 entry-level positions with new graduates this year.

Lillian Kang, 21, of Overland Park, Kan., found a lot of job opportunities at career fairs. But she ended up landing a financial adviser position with High Pointe Financial Group.

"They found me," Kang said. "They saw my resume posted on the KU career site and called me."

At the University of Missouri-Kansas City Career Services Center, employers still were calling recently to reach potential employees even though traditionally the college campus recruiting season ends at the beginning of April, said Annette Haynes, the university's manager of career services.

Career center officials at the University of Missouri at Columbia expect more students to graduate with jobs this year than in the past two years. In late spring 2005, some 84 percent of the 2,050 graduates who responded to an online survey left that university with jobs. Most of those jobs — 75 percent — were in Missouri and paid salaries ranging from $24,000 to $47,200.

Nationally, most job offers are being made to students graduating with degrees and skills in financial services, accounting, engineering and computer services.

Besides its more optimistic hiring forecast for this year's graduates, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found in its 2006 survey of employers that starting salaries will be better in certain fields.

Strong competition for the best graduates has driven starting salaries up in the hottest fields: engineering and business. A good student with a degree in accounting is looking at an annual starting salary of more than $46,000, a jump of more than 5 percent over last year. And in almost every engineering field, starting salaries rose by 4 percent to 5 percent. Liberal arts salaries are up this year by more than 6 percent.

Besides the demographic and financial reasons for an improved job market, experts credit college students themselves.

"Students ... are getting better at presenting themselves to employers," Haynes said.

According to a CollegeGrad.com survey of employers, how a student interviews is the second-most important factor in getting a job. No. 1 is what the student majored in, and third is experience.

Their grade point average, the school they attended and what they wear to the interview are less important factors.