MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Beka Moore, director of Middle Tennessee State University’s Career Development Center, and Holly Allen, assistant director, shared plans for the upcoming “BIG Career Fair” and their research-backed approach to career counseling on this month’s episode of “Out of the Blue,” the university’s television magazine program.

“Our goal is to help (all) students understand what they can do with their degrees because not everybody majors in areas that do become occupations such as nursing, accounting and construction,” Moore explained to host Andrew Oppmann, MTSU’s vice president for marketing and communications. “There are a lot of majors out there that we have to help people understand what they can do with that … help them pivot and understand where to pivot to. We help them find purpose to live a meaningful life.”

Allen highlighted the center’s services along with their approach to guiding students to their brightest futures.  

“We do (offer) more transactional services like resume reviews, cover letters and personal statements,” Allen said, “but we really like having those holistic conversations. I usually start with, ‘What’s the big dream?’ Then, ‘Can we work backwards from there?’”

Moore said they base these “deeper” appointments on self-conducted research and external data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE.

“We are going into our third year of a longitudinal study,” she said. “We survey students before and after what we call a meaningful engagement in our office … appointments that … go a little bit deeper. Students identify a very big change in how anxious they were before they came in and then after the appointment.

“Additionally, NACE has come out with a report that students who engage with career services get 1.24 times more job offers … and those who get paid internships are at a 1.61% higher pay. There’s an actual, tangible benefit for students to come to our office.”

Allen added NACE’s data also provides the office with concrete examples of the most in-demand skills from employers across industries that staff can then use to best prepare students for the working world.

Big Career Fair 2026

The “BIG Career Fair” — the university’s largest recruiting event of the year — will host prospective employers from across all majors Thursday, Sept. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Campus Recreation Center located at 1848 Blue Raider Drive, coming back after a record attendance last year.

“Last year’s fair had 215 employers and 2,100 students in attendance,” Moore said.

Moore said that interested employers and students can learn more at the center’s event webpage, https://www.mtsu.edu/career/careerevents-student/, and via the Handshake app, an online career network and job search platform, to register as an employer or, for students, to view a list of employers planning to attend.

Ways to watch, listen

• “Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

• It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; WKRN+ at 7 p.m. Thursdays and noon Sundays; WNPX “The Spot – Nashville 28” Saturdays at 4:30 a.m.; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

• It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Stephanie Wagner ([email protected])