Craig Jennings in FSU’s Encova Career Development Center’s Professional Spotlight Series
FSU’s Encova Career Development Center has been hosting The Professional Spotlight Series, which has been an ongoing series since February 8th, 2022. This series has been open to the public and hosted over WebEx. There has been a total of seven guest speakers, including:
- Steve Rodriguez (Principal, Fairview Middle School & FSU Alum, Class of 1984)
- Diana Lewis Jackson (President & CEO, Action Facilities Management & FSU Alum, Class of 1986)
- Chris Morris (Director, Commercial Lending, First United Bank & Trust & FSU Alum, Class of 2000)
- Stanley Brown (Manager/Broker, Mathers Reality & FSU Alum, Class of 1973)
- C.J. Goodwin (Professional NFL Football Player, Dallas Cowboys & FSU Alum, Class of 2012)
- Robert Taylor (Canine Training/Behavior Specialist & Owner of BarNone K9, LLC. & FSU Alum, Class of 2010)
- Craig Jennings (Producer, Bond Insurance Agency & FSU Alum, Class of 2003)
On April 19th, at 12:30 p.m., WebEx went live with the special guest, Craig Jennings. Many staff members attended this virtual event, Career Counselor, Ja-Rhonda Staples, Director of Career Services and Civic Engagement, Susan Rodriguez, and Assistant Vice President for Educational and Career Success, Dr. John Devault. Craig Jennings graduated from FSU in 2003 with a degree in Engineering Technology. He was a member of the football team and part of the 2000 season WVIAC conference championship. During his senior year, he was nominated by teammates to be team captain, while also being President of FSU’s chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers. Jennings was awarded “Outstanding Young Alumnus,” as part of FSU’s 2015 Homecoming Sesquicentennial Celebration.
Graduate student and assistant at Encova Career Development Center, Isadora Matos, interviewed Jennings. Matos asked questions about Jennings’ time as a student at FSU and his experience with community service, internships, career fair opportunities, civil engineering, and football. He mentioned that he remembers working a couple hours in his first semester at the mission, “It left an impression on me, the people who worked there, and people who went there.” When Isadora asked him about internships that he had completed during his student-life, he explained, “Local engineering firms would hire a group of us every year. I worked for Triad Engineering during the summers.”
Craig Jennings began to talk about his sales organization job. He explained that the great thing about the industry he is in is that he gets to set up his own hours which are around his clients, but he always has his phone in hand. His job is to help people and make sure that in their worst times, they can get back to where they were. “We want to give them that peace of mind that when the worst things happen, we can step in and help them,” he stated.
Craig is the type of guy that always knows a guy! If he meets somebody who needs somebody specific, he always tries to keep somebody in his pocket. He notes, “They’re going to remember me as the guy who helped them through whatever their issue was at the time. Always have a guy that you can refer somebody to.” He then added a few finishing wise words, “Everything comes back to being a service. So, if you’re not able to help them with your service, then help them find somebody for their other needs.”
