CDC unveils professional photo booth

The Career Development Center has added a new photo booth where students and staff can get professional pictures taken for free. 

Katie Hodgden, the assistant director of the CDC, said students would benefit when looking for a post-graduation job, so they decided to put up a photo booth in the CDC office. 

“They can use it to post on their LinkedIn profile, have it in their email signature, just something that helps students to build their personal brand and have a professional presence,” said Hodgden. “When recruiters are looking at LinkedIn profiles, they connect a face and a name together, so it is important to have something available on your social online presence when you’re job searching.” 

Another reason they decided to put up a photo booth is so students can get photos taken when they are available versus getting them taken at a career expo.

“I think it’s a place of privilege to be able to attend an event on a certain day and certain short timeframe of the week. This allows more students to have access to the option of a nice photo,” said Hodgden. 

Hodgen said they came up with the idea during the pandemic due to a high demand of people wanting a professional photo. She also researched what other schools were doing and saw they had a photo booth available to students year-round. 

“Coming out of COVID, we had chosen that year not to do a professional photographer because we were trying to minimize too many extra people at an event. I had received so many questions from people after the event, asking, ‘Are you doing a photographer this year? I’d love a professional photo,’” said Hodgden. “Throughout the year, I received multiple questions from faculty interested in having a professional photo and wondering whether they could do that. And so I saw a need for something that would be available year-round.” 

This has been something that the CDC has wanted to do for a while. Taylor Corporation reached out to them, wanting to help support the CDC and the students at MSU. 

“We put together a few ideas for them, and this was one of them that we thought would be fabulous. I’m excited about it because the cool thing is Taylor Corporation is a manufacturing company,” said Hodgden. “They design things too, so they actually designed and manufactured the backdrop along with the sticker decal, kind of the carpet we have in front of it. So they were a great partner in bringing it to life.” 

So how does it work? 

Students can simply go to the CDC during hours of operation, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no appointment needed. Students can go up and hit the button, giving them a five-second countdown. There are a variety of borders they can choose from. Once a photo is taken, students can type in their email address, which gets photos sent to them immediately. 

“I hope students get a professional photo that they feel comfortable and confident about. Something that they feel represents them can increase their opportunities because of having that one more network piece or the ability for someone to remember who they are on their LinkedIn profiles,” said Hodgden.

Photo caption: The CDC’s new photobooth allows students to get professional headshots they can use for their LinkedIn profiles, emails and more. (Lilly Anderson/The Reporter)

Write to Lauren Viska at lauren.viska@mnsu.edu