CLEVELAND, Miss. — Delta State University recently hosted the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (MDPS) for a job fair that informed students of the many career paths within the organizations that make up the department. Interim Chair of the Department of Management, Marketing and Business Administration Dr. Kent Wessinger organized the event with the collaboration of Dr. Hannah Harrison, Human Resources Director for MDPS.
Harrison said, “This is an exciting opportunity for us to showcase not only our agency as a whole, but also the varied jobs we have in our department.”
Harrison said that MDPS is looking to fill sworn positions, such as police officers, but that there is a strong need to fill positions in administration, finance, HR, IT, and other roles in the departments various divisions. “We have active jobs that are being recruited right now, but this is also an opportunity to showcase what we do for the state,” she said. “We have a workforce crisis where things fluctuate very quickly, so we want to show the types of jobs that are offered, and get people into careers where they can grow with the department.”
Wessinger said, “This is the first Mississippi Public Safety Conference ever held at a state university in Mississippi. When I began to build a relationship with the leadership team with MDPS, they were telling me about their struggles with recruiting, especially top-talent young people. The question arose, had we ever had a job fair at a state university, and they said ‘No.’ I said, ‘Let’s make Delta State the first place that we do that.’”
Students were able to meet with the heads of every organization within MDPS. Wessinger said, “MDPS is here today with a mission and a purpose…to hire Delta State graduates.”
Wessinger said that he anticipates the event becoming an annual occurrence. “We don’t want this to be a one-shot. We want it to be an annual thing. We know that it is a win-win-win. It’s a win for MDPS, it’s a win for our students here at DSU, and it’s a win for the state of Mississippi, because they are able to recruit students that are ready and eager and have displayed discipline from the academic rigor in this university.”
Dr. Tomeka Harbin, Interim Dean of the College of Business and Aviation said, “This opportunity is great for our students. At the end of the day, we want our students to be able to be employed and to have internship and job opportunities. Providing events like this and putting the organizations in front of the students is great for our students and for our university.”
Harrison said that MDPS actively recruits for all of its divisions and hires individuals in each division every year. For some of divisions, they recruit for positions that become available immediately, and for other divisions like the Mississippi Highway Patrol, they open applications for the next school available. “It’s HR’s goal at MDPS to help potential hires navigate our processes and help connect them to the right division and position. We would be happy to answer any questions.”
For more information about job opportunities with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, email recruitment@dps.ms.gov. For more information about the DSU College of Business and Aviation, visit deltastate.edu/college-of-business/.
