Watching ads on TV might be one way to do it, though entertaining, that would probably take quite a while to find a company that you're interested in.

Driving around looking at buildings and billboards probably falls into the same bucket.

So how do we effectively find them? First, it helps to have a rough idea of what kind of company you might be interested in. Aerospace? Chemical? Computer Systems/Tech? Software? Construction? Consulting?

Start there and think about what industry you might be interested in (look at your major if you're still having issues). Then I recommend you do a search on www.Finance.Google.com for the largest company in that group. The neat thing about Google Finance is that if you scroll down a bit, under the stock chart, you will see a list of "Related Companies."

For example, if I'm interested in chemical companies, and I do a search for DuPont (DD), the list of related companies includes: Dow Chemical, Rohm and Haas, Albermarle, Rockwell Holdings, Monsanto, Huntsman, Eastman Chemical, RPM International, 3M, and Hercules.

Now I don't know about you, but there are 8 companies on that list that I have never heard of, or don't know a whole lot about. Furthermore, I would be willing to bet that no more than 3 companies on that list actually came to your career fair.

You see, no company has the will, resources, or desire to go to every university out there. They simply can't do it! As a result, they tend to recruit at either major schools, or local schools (or both). By doing so, your school may have gotten left out.

Now, just because you have never heard of a company and just because they didn't come to your career fair doesn't mean that you should avoid them. So, take a look at the company websites on the list for what positions they have available. Who knows, you may find something you like! Go ahead, apply for it!

The wonderful thing about this technique too is that when you click on each individual company, the "related companies" for that company may be completely different, as each company is just a little bit different. This opens up a whole new world of almost limitless companies to look at.

Good luck!