Preparing students for the workforce through the support services and partnerships of the MTSU Career Development Center was on the agenda for the September 2023 edition of “Out of the Blue,” the television magazine program of Middle Tennessee State University.

Beka Crocket, director of the center, and Miranda Mitchell, talent acquisition manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, joined with program host Andrew Oppmann, vice president for marketing and communications, to discuss the center’s services to support students and relationships with companies like Enterprise to provide job opportunities.

You can watch their roughly seven-minute segment below:

Located in room 328 of the Keathley University Center on campus, the Career Development Center offers a myriad of online and in-person services to help students find the job for them, including the Sept. 28 Fall Career Fair in the Campus Recreation Center featuring dozens of prospective employers from a variety of businesses and industries.

“We’re a full-service center that walks along with students through the developmental process,

then the full job search and placement process,” Crockett said. “So we do everything from major confirmation to resumes, cover letters, and then connecting them to our industry partners.”

Mitchell touched on how the center’s use of the online job board Handshake helps her identify potential students to recruit for internships and jobs and network with them for future opportunities.

“I can use Handshake for a variety of functions. It’s not just for jobs, but it can also be development as well,” she said. “So we host different kinds of sessions, meet and greets, but it can be career development, interview prep, resume workshops directly from an employer as well. And from there you can start building your network before you even apply to the job.

“So it also makes it really useful for the student as well. But for the recruiter, it’s less of a hunt and more of a networking platform for us to connect with students.”

You can watch “Out of the Blue” anytime online on MTSU’s YouTube channel and on MTSU’s True Blue TV, airing on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Central and on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, as well as on NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays.

“Out of the Blue” also is available as iTunes and Google Play podcasts and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. Enjoy previous editions of “Out of the Blue” here in our archives, too.

Interview segments of the monthly “Out of the Blue” TV show are also released weekly as individual podcasts on Spotify. You can find them at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)