Skip to main content

MC Supports Governor's Job Fair Network


Mississippi College is assisting the Mississippi Employment Expo that will join thousands of job applicants with more than 100 employers on March 17.

Part of the Governor's Job Fair Network, the event runs from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on that Tuesday at the Mississippi Trademart in Jackson. Admission is free. MC will operate a table displaying materials about its undergraduate and graduate programs and the MC School of Law.

Bebe Garrison, director of the Accelerated Degree Program at MC, sees the event as a tremendous opportunity for job seekers to have access to 100-plus employers. The employers signed up range from Comcast to the Bureau of Land Management to banks, government agencies, insurance companies and the Army National Guard.

Times are tough in all 50 states as the nation deals with a recession that's put millions out of work. In Mississippi, more than 26,300 people have lost their jobs in 2008. The unemployment rate in metro Jackson stood at 6 percent in December, reports show.

Garrison will lead a team of MC staffers working a jobs fair table with information about the Accelerated Degree Program and scores of others at the Christian university in Clinton.

When the economy is bad, more people return to college to earn degrees or pursue studies to enable them to switch to other careers, she noted.

Garrison is returning again as one of the key planners of the annual event in the capital city. She advises job seekers to bring multiple copies of resumes to the job fair and to dress professionally.

More than 3,000 job applicants and 133 employers attended last year's fair, said Joe Buckner, director of the Governor's Job Fair Network. A total of nearly 23,000 visitors attended the job fair in 2008.

The Mississippi Association of Colleges and Employers has joined the effort again to serve as a co-sponsor for this year's event, Buckner said in a letter to employers.

Besides reaching out to students at all of Mississippi's universities and colleges, the fair also aims to attract military service members and their spouses, among others.

Companies are continuing to register with the Job Fair. For more information, contact the local WIN job Center, go online at www.jobfairs.ms.gov or reach Joe Buckner at 601.321.6154 or jbuckner@mdes.ms.gov. Bebe Garrison can be reached at 601.925.7617 or garrison@mc.edu.