Hundreds of Mississippi College Students Attend Career Day 2012

David K. Jesiolowski, partner with New York Life Insurance Company and MC senior Allison Taylor, 22, of Houston, Texas

America is showing signs of an economic recovery, and that was good news to hundreds of Mississippi College students hunting jobs at the university’s Career Day 2012.

With the USA jobless rate of 8.3 percent in January at a three-year low, students and scores of employers seemed more upbeat as they networked Tuesday at the annual event sponsored by MC’s Office of Career Services.

For New York Life Insurance Company partner David K. Jesiolowski, Mississippi College is a proven gold mine when it comes to recruiting top-notch students.

“All of my best people are MC graduates,” Jesiolowski said after MC senior Allison Taylor, 22, of Houston, Texas stopped by his table in the middle of a crowded Anderson Hall. “The people here all write well, they are articulate and have good Christian principles.”

The four-hour Career Day on the Clinton campus is now history, but in the future expect to see more insurance agents with MC diplomas working out of his Ridgeland office on the Highland Colony Parkway.

Taylor, a nursing student, is among many participants giving high marks to Career Day 2012. “It is so convenient. Everyone is here,” she said. “I’m talking to all kinds of companies. My focus is on nursing, but the world is a big place.”

Recruiters from hospitals, school districts and others among the 80 visiting employers rave about MC’s Career Day.

Mississippi College’s Career Day is a good way to touch base with some of the best potential employees in the region, recruiters say.

“We love MC nurses,” says Jodi Creed, a nurse recruiter with Baptist Health Systems, home to more than 3,000 employees.

Alaina Herrington, her nursing counterpart for the University of Mississippi Medical Center, is just as vocal about the quality of graduates from the MC School of Nursing. “We get a lot of nurses from there,” she said. Making her job much easier, the Career Day is always one of the most valuable dates on her calendar every year.

“We always have great success at this event,” said Kim LaFontaine, district administrator with the Pearl public schools. “The MC students come well prepared. They represent Mississippi College in a professional manner – they represent MC very well.”

Karen Lindsey-Lloyd, the director of Retention and Career Services, stayed busy until the very end of the event and asked employers to fill out evaluation sheets before heading out the door.

It takes months of planning to get ready for Career Day, with Lindsey-Lloyd praising her hard-working team, including assistant directors Hayley Taff and Jennifer McGill, and a number of volunteers.

MC President Lee Royce joined a number of professors and staff stopping by all of the booths to mingle with visiting employers.

The Southern hospitality is superb on the Clinton campus, but so are the MC students and alumni stopping by their tables, employers say.

“A lot of our teachers are MC graduates,” says Sandi Beason, public information officer for the Clinton Public School District. “This is a great way to get to know people,” she said as assistant superintendent Tim Martin met with another job prospect.

Cerissa Neal, human resources director for teacher recruitment with the Jackson Public Schools, always is eager to visit the Clinton campus for Career Day every February. “We love the hospitality that Mississippi College shows us. It is always a friendly environment. We love it.”

District officials say the Career Day timing is perfect with school administrators to make many of the hiring decisions for teachers in May for the upcoming 2012-2013 academic year.

MC senior Sarah Park of Virginia Beach, Va. exited the event to relax with friends and enjoy lunch near the Quad. It was a day well-spent. “I got to go to a few of the tables,” she said. Park was able to get more information about an internship at Pinelake Church at its main campus in Rankin County.

For more information, contact Hayley Taff at the MC Office of Careers Services at 601.925.7717 or go to www.mc.edu/career.