CIM Faculty/Staff Member
Nicole Green, Middle Tennessee State University
School: Middle Tennessee State University
Which CIM program are you involved with and what are your responsibilities?
I am the CIM Marketing and Recruiting Coordinator at MTSU. My primary responsibilities are to recruit new students into the program, connect current students and alumni with employers, and market the program, events and accomplishments to all CIM and MTSU constituents. In addition, I maintain the CIM website and social media outlets, schedule courses, plan events for the department including socials, the annual career fair and internship interview day, maintain and compile reports and assist with advising students as needed.
What interesting projects have your students been involved with during this last school year?
Our students do some really cool projects, but in regard to my job, we began teaching them resume writing and interviewing in CIM 4030, our Ethics & Professionalism course last year. As the final for the course, students do a mock interview for a position and company with a panel of professionals. I started the Internship Interview Day in Spring 2013 due to the large number of companies contacting the department for summer interns. Companies send detailed job descriptions and the students select the companies that most interested them and I coordinated the rest. Companies come to campus and interview multiple candidates for their internship positions. We had seven companies and over 25 students take part in the interviews followed by lunch to network with the employers.
Can you describe the different career paths that graduates of the CIM program can take?
Students can concentrate their major in production, sales, and service (PSS) or concrete contracting (COCO). With PSS, students will be working in a variety of areas, usually within a ready mix plant or in a sales role. COCO only differs from PSS by seven classes, but includes skills such as surveying, estimating, project management, personnel management and field supervision and is more suited for students that have a desire to work with a general contractor or specialty contractor. Typically employers are open to seeing both concentrations. Within concrete and construction, I get a wide variety of job functions that prefer someone with the general knowledge our graduates gain from CIM. In the past year, I’ve posted positions such as Lab Manager, Environmental Compliance Supervisor, BIM Modeler, Auditor, and even Editor. Thus, I often describe the outcome of this degree to prospective students as choosing the industry you want to work in and we help you find the type of job that best suits the student within the industry.
What is unique about the graduates of the CIM program?
CIM graduates are set to start work immediately upon entering the workforce. They know a little about a lot as a result of the curriculum and the intensive 400-hour required internship. The internship and requirements of the department help graduates learn many soft skills that other current college graduates may be lacking. Our students understand the importance of getting to work on time, professional communication, and networking to build and maintain relationships.