The Nashville Metropolitan Area ranks best in employment among Tennessee’s 10 metro areas, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .
Only 2.6 percent of Nashville’s population is without a job, which is a change of about one percentage point for the better from last year. Nashville’s rate also beats the national figure of 3.9 percent unemployment
This statistic should pique the interest of Middle Tennessee State University students who will be seeking a job around the Nashville area soon.
However, Bill Fletcher, the director of the Career Development Center at MTSU, says that while jobs are out there, students still need to take the proper steps to ensure they get a good start on their careers.
“Right out of the gate your senior year you should be focusing on May and getting ready to graduate in May,” Fletcher urges. “By coming by and talking to your advisor in the career center, you can do that.”
Fletcher also says that just going to class isn’t going to cut it for new graduates looking to start their careers, and they should walk through some important questions before walking across the stage.
“What have you accomplished? Do you have a resume? Have you interned? What do you want to do? Have you started networking?”
Piper Evans, a 23-year-old MTSU graduate, says that while she did get involved with resume-building activities while she was in college, she still feels like she had a harder time finding a job near her home in the Chattanooga area.
“[The job market] is rough to get into sometimes and you don’t always get the dream job coming straight out,” Evans explains. “It took me four months to get a full time ‘media’ position and the position still isn’t ideal for me.”
Evans also says that she knew about the MTSU Career Center while she was in school, but she never felt inclined to use the resources because she felt that her Interview Communication class gave her the tools necessary to break into the workforce.
The MTSU Career Center does has resources available on its website for students to use before and after graduation, whether they are looking to stay in the state or move somewhere else.
Looking across the state of Tennessee, while Nashville does have the lowest unemployment rate, Knoxville is not far behind with a recorded 3.1 November 2017 unemployment rate, a drop of about a percentage point and a half from the previous year.
Redder shades represent lower unemployment, while the more orange shades represent higher unemployment rates. Click any metro area for details.
Katie Inman 