_{Students and employers interact at a 2022 career fair hosted by Tech’s Center for Career Development.} 

Engineering students at Tennessee Tech University will have an opportunity to interact with more than 180 prospective employers from across the region at the annual spring engineering fair on March 7, hosted by the university's Center for Career Development. 

The event, slated to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Hooper Eblen Center, marks a record turnout of employers for a Tech career fair, according to Russ Coughenour, director of the Center for Career Development. 

“We are officially at standing room only for employer booths, so that’s a good situation to be in,” said Coughenour. 

Participating businesses include local and national names such as ATC Automation, Averitt Express, Bridgestone Americas, Denso Corporation, Dynetics, HCA Healthcare, Tennessee Valley Authority, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Aerospace Solutions, Tenneco, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others.

Photographers will also be set up on the stage of the Hoop’s arena floor to take professional headshots free of charge for Tech students.

Reflecting on the high turnout of employers, Coughenour called it a “perfect storm” of businesses needing to increase staffing as they reemerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as heightened recognition of Tech’s reputation as a leader in producing career-ready graduates.

“The brand of Tennessee Tech, certainly in engineering and as a school overall, is probably the best it has been. We’re making a lot of recruiters’ radar screens,” added Coughenour. 

The Center for Career Development uses a digital platform called Handshake to register employers for the event. Students can log onto the platform to see participating businesses within their field of study and even connect with those businesses ahead of the March 7 event. 

The center also offers a wide array of resources to help equip students for successful connections at the career fair. This week, it hosted a workshop on making a great first impression with prospective employers, as well as a panel discussion on what employers look for at job fairs.

Additionally, the university’s Scarlett & Murphy's Business Professional Closet, located in the fourth floor of Johnson Hall, allows students to borrow free clothing for business professional events. 

While Coughenour and his team finalize the March 7 engineering fair, they are also looking ahead to other events connecting Tech students and potential employers. 

The Center for Career Development will host its College of Education & Human Sciences spring career fair on March 23 and will participate in the Nashville Area Career Fairs Consortium on April 4. The latter event will be held at the Nashville Fairgrounds and is slated to include more than 100 employers across all fields of study. The College of Business Student Success Center will provide free bus transportation to and from the event for Tech students. 

Learn more about the Center for Career Development at https://www.tntech.edu/career.

Learn more about the Scarlett & Murphy’s Business Professional Closet at 
https://www.tntech.edu/business/readiness/professional-closet.php.

 

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