Resume in hand as well as a few nerves, MTSU senior Brandon Miller of Clarksville, Tennessee, joined hundreds of his classmates and hundreds more alumni making the rounds of the Murphy Center track Thursday to talk with the dozens of employers on hand for the annual Fall Career Fair.
“I’m coming up into my senior year, so I really want to see what’s out there,” said Miller, a Jones College of Business finance major scheduled to graduate in August. “I’m hoping for a couple of job opportunities, but I will look for internships as well.”
Hosted by the Career Development Center of Middle Tennessee State University, the fair was free and open to all MTSU students and alumni. This year’s fair drew almost 170 employers, a 20 percent increase from last year, as well as a number of graduate/professional schools.
“The Midstate is obviously booming and a lot of people are hiring,” said Dusty Doddridge, assistant director of the Career Development Center, who noted that the fair was the largest in several years. “It’s a great opportunity to work on your resume, work on your elevator speech and work on your networking skills. It’s an event where everybody can come away with something.”
The Fall Career Fair is the only campuswide career fair of the academic year, so many students and alumni donned their best business attire to make the right impression with prospective employers, which ranged from airlines to financial services and from construction management to state and federal government.
Graduate student Hameeda Saleem, a computer information systems major and native of India, said she looked at the Career Development Center’s website before coming to the fair to review the list of employers and decide which ones she would target.
“I already applied to some positions through their websites, so I’m giving them a hard copy of my resume,” said Saleem, who was glad the career center provided attendees with a map of employer booths. “I didn’t expect it do be this huge.”
Participating employers were hiring for professional entry-level positions and/or career-related internships/co-ops. Corporate sponsors were Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, EFC Systems and Air Wisconsin.
The Career Development Center is a centralized comprehensive center that serves all students in each of MTSU’s nine colleges. Students may come to the center’s office in Room 328 of Keathley University Center for walk-in advising, resume critique and more. Scheduled appointments are also available with career advisors. Alumni services are outlined on the center’s website.
