Career Connections, a podcast from South Dakota State University

I kickoff my exploration of what is possible in South Dakota by speaking with Brienne Maner, who is the President of Startup Sioux Fall. You will hear us discuss many ways that entrepreneurs have created interesting career paths in South Dakota. Importantly, we also talk about career readiness and the importance of answering the question, what kind of problem do you want to solve? How do you want...

This episode is for faculty and staff. It is the audio from a webinar I hosted in early April 2026 for the South Dakota Higher Education Association. In this webinar I discuss different ways to embed career development into courses and our work with students. See below where you will find links to platforms where you can watch the video version of the webinar. Resources: South Dakota Higher Educat...

This episode is the audio of the Professional Development Series Webinar I co host with my colleague Travis Jensen who is part of the South Dakota State University Alumni and Foundation. Every year we host 3-4 webinars on different topics with the intent of providing professional development for alumni and current students. A common question for graduating students centers on the theme of what’s n...

There are countless stories we hear about the job market. From unemployment rates and a frozen job market to anecdotal scenarios of people getting jobs, losing jobs, starting their own businesses, we hear it all. At South Dakota State University, one of our challenges is sorting through the national story to try and understand what is happening in South Dakota and the Upper Midwest.   My guest on...

Many students continue to wonder- are career fairs important or even effective? The short answer is an emphatic YES. This episode is part 2 of “The Career Fair.”   In this episode I reconnect with Maddie Haen who now works for Hefty Seeds and attends many career fairs as their recruiter. She is an alumnus of South Dakota State University and was one of the students I interviewed for the episode ti...

I collaborate with the South Dakota State Alumni Association to host a professional development webinar series, and we had a session in October on servant leadership. The presenter for that webinar was Toby Uecker who currently serves as the Dean of Students here at South Dakota State and this episode is the audio from that webinar. I am sharing it on this podcast because the content is relevant n...

Using Stories within the Career Everywhere Initiative   How do we tell stories? Why should we even think about stories? What kind of story am I telling people?   She’s a journalist turned marketer. Meredith Metsker is the host of the Career Everywhere Podcast, and she joined me on this episode to share her thoughts about the questions above and Career Everywhere.   The Career Everywhere Initiative...

We tell ourselves a story of our professional identity. What happens when that story needs to change whether you want it to or not? In this episode we discuss Transition Theory and how we can support students through important big transitions. Resources: Office of Career Development The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

On this episode I have a conversation with the author Marc Reede. Marc has enjoyed a rich career working with many different talented people, booking them for lectures, and touring as a speaker. His book The Coffee Code is a great book for students who are getting ready to graduate, as well as professionals who are trying to make a career change or reinvigorate their career. In our conversation yo...

This episode is the launch of a series of episodes about story telling. I was inspired to think more deeply about storytelling during one of my previous episodes. In the episode on Leadership in season 1, I spoke with Dr. Christi Garst- Santos and she mentioned a core component of good leadership involves storytelling. Telling the stories of your staff, your group, community,  your mission. The st...

Are you an employer curious about how to design an internship program? Or perhaps you are a student interested in an internship in finance, budgeting, or accounting? Internships and experiential learning are vital to student success and career satisfaction. Therefore, I thought it would be wise to explore the topic of internships. In Part 2 of my 2-part series on South Dakota State University as a...

This episode is Part 1 in my look at South Dakota State University as an employer. So much goes into keeping this university functioning which requires a multitude of people with different skill sets and expertise.  Carissa Redenius is the Assistant Director of Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment. She attends all our career fairs we host for students throughout the year as well as helps...

All of us hold a range of comfort with different technologies. Some of us love to engage with new technologies while others continue to struggle with simple tasks such as converting a word document to a pdf. Alas, we don’t have a choice. Every kind of work utilizes different kinds of technology. From barbers to bankers, farmers to educators, technology is a key part of our world. Parts of our live...

How do people become leaders? What does it take? Is there a manual? Leadership is cited as one of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies and I understand why. Learning how to be a leader is a process that can take a while, and I want college students to start the process while they’re still on campus. There are many ways students can develop as leaders and I highlight a few in this episode. One of...

In this episode, I continue my coverage of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies. The focus here is Critical Thinking, which is a very broad topic so conversations can cover a wide range. To help me with this conversation, I needed someone who oversees something that is also broad in scope, which caused me to look at the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. At South Dakota State Univ...

In this episode we continue our exploration of 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 asp...

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...

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...

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. Th...

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....

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,...

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...

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:...

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...

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 c...