Career Connections, a podcast from South Dakota State University

Introductions

Welcome to the Career Connections podcast. I’m your host, Kevin Fullerton,  the Director of Career Development at South Dakota State University.
 
This podcast is a space I’m going to use to explore career development topics. Some of the topics discussed will be specific to South Dakota State University, but I will also have content that will be useful for off campus folks too.  Whether you’re a current SD State student, faculty or staff, alumni, parent of a college student, prospective student or a career development professional, I think you will find these conversations helpful.
 
This episode has a couple of parts. The first portion of the episode will be information about my office specifically, then I will transition to information about my background. A simple yet impactful way for students to explore career paths is to learn from older professionals, and I intend to provide these kinds of insights on this podcast. If you are a higher ed professional- regardless of your title or function on campus- if you work with students, take time to share your background. Students need to hear our stories early and often. People like to pretend that career paths are linear , but I work very hard to normalize reality. Changing majors, and changing jobs is a reality in our economy.
Be sure to check out these other SD State Podcasts:
State of Wellbeing
State Stories
Coffee with COJO
 

The Career Fair

On this episode, we are covering the topic of career fairs. The career fair is one of the staple events hosted by university and college career centers. The actual art of preparing for a career fair can be hard for students, so this episode features 2 student perspectives on preparing for career fairs.
 
Learn more: careers.sdstate.edu
For show topics/questions, contact me: kevin.fullerton@sdstate.edu

The Concrete Industry Management Degree

Are you a student undecided on your major? This episode might help.
In this episode we learn more about the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) degree program at South Dakota State University. This is a relatively new program to this university and it is one of the only CIM programs in the country. Listeners will learn about the opportunities provided within this degree and career path.
Learn more:
Jennifer Manatt's contact information
Concrete Industry Management at SD State
Office of Career Development at South Dakota State University
For questions and topic suggestions, contact Kevin Fullerton at kevin.fullerton@sdstate.edu

Working for the State Department with Sara Stealy

In this episode, we get to learn from Sarah Veldhuizen Stealy, who is currently the diplomat in residence for the Central Region of the United States. She shares a bit about her background, as well as how to apply for federal positions and great details about working for the State Department. Our conversation provides a glimpse into the variety of opportunities available for multiple career paths within the federal government.
Web resources:
usajobs.gov
careers.state.gov
Sara Veldhuizen Stealy, Diplomat in Residence StealySV@state.gov
South Dakota State University Office of Career Development:
careers.sdstate.edu
Kevin Fullerton, kevin.fullerton@sdstate.edu
 

Career Transitions Rebroadcast

In this episode, we get to do two things. First, we get to amplify some work that is happening in another area on campus. The State of Wellbeing podcast is hosted by Caitlyn Walters, who is one of our wellbeing specialists on campus here. Her podcast contains a multitude of topics that I'm confident you can learn from, so please check out State of Wellbeing however you listen to podcasts.
Second, we get to showcase a member of my staff earlier this spring on the state of wellbeing. Stephen Miedema was featured in an episode titled Career Transitions. The conversation between Stephen and Caitlyn covers different themes on life after graduation, while also touching on Stephen's background.
State of Wellbeing
South Dakota State University Wellbeing
South Dakota State University Office of Career Development

Embedding Career Development Topics in Courses

In this episode, I have an informative conversation with Nicole Poff, the Founder of Edcarta. Throughout the conversation we dig into different ways faculty can embed career development topics in their courses to better help students develop awareness of their skill development during their time as students.
Additional Information:
https://careers.sdstate.edu/
https://www.edcarta.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolepoff/

NACE Career Readiness Competency- Self and Career Development

This episode is the first of eight in a series devoted to career readiness competencies.
In 2022, the result of many of years of work, The National Association of Colleges and Employers developed a list of competencies that illustrate whether someone is career ready. For more information on how they came up with their list of competencies, I have shared a link to their report in the show notes.
The competencies illustrate different aspects of ourselves that need focus as we become professionals and maintain a professional career. Each competency has its own individual characteristics but they are very intertwined. In the following series of episodes, we are going to take a closer look at the competencies individually.
In this episode, we are going to discuss the competency- Self- and Career Development. To aid in this discussion, I was lucky to have Dr. Gregory Peterson join me. He is currently a Professor of Philosophy and Religion and the Director of the Ethics lab here at South Dakota State University.
Further exploration:
NACE Career Readiness Competencies
SD State Office of Career Development
SD State Ethics Lab
SD State Philosophy Minor 
 

NACE Career Readiness Competency - Professionalism

This episode is the second episode in my series on the NACE Career Readiness Competencies.
In 2022, the National Association of Colleges and Employers developed a list of competencies that illustrate whether someone is career ready. For more information on how they came up with their list of competencies, I have shared a link to their report in the show notes.
The competencies illustrate different aspects of ourselves that need focus as we become professionals and maintain a professional career. The competencies are very intertwined and connected, but they each have their own individual characteristics.
Professionalism is my focus on this episode.
 
Further exploration:
NACE Career Readiness Competencies
SD State Office of Career Development
Professionalism Graphic

NACE Career Readiness Competency - Communication

The National Association of Colleges and Employers developed the list of competencies that illustrate whether someone is career ready. The competencies illustrate different aspects of ourselves that need focus as we become professionals and maintain a professional career. The competencies are very intertwined, but they each have their own individual characteristics.
In this episode, we're going to focus on competency communication. My guest for this episode is Erin Pederson. Erin is one of my colleagues in the Office of Career Development, and I enjoyed discussing this topic with her because she has a wealth of experience and teaching communication. Throughout our conversation, you will hear us discuss communication as a topic skill, and we share a few specific tactics for students to employ that will help develop communication skills. Please see below for several resources mentioned in the episode.
Further exploration:
Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast
Communication Junkie Podcast
Talk Like Ted, by Carmine Gallo
How to Talk to Anyone, by Leil Lowndes
Cues, by Vanessa Van Edwards
Advice with Erin
Speaking with Yasir Khan
NACE Career Readiness Competencies
SD State Office of Career Development
Kevin Fullerton