No matter what NPR says, many employers tap into the Penn State talent pool. The difficult part is matching yourself with companies looking for your type of skill set.

Career Services has set up the Nittany Lion Career Network, a new Access Account based portal that allows you to create a profile listing information valuable for potential employers: your major, coursework, résumé, etc. It’s basically Monster but for Penn State. It is also helpful even if you’re not looking for a full-time job; there are listings for internships around the country and part-time jobs near State College.

NLCN will send you announcements about career fairs, workshops or other job-related events that it may behoove you to attend. Keeping with the theme, it’s all personalized. It isn’t for everyone though. The site suggests that students in Smeal, EMS, IST, or Eberly register with their college, not with NLCN.

This is a great asset that could really help facilitate job searching for all of us, especially since it uses a narrower, more targeted matching system. Not only does it make the whole task considerably less daunting, but by virtue of using a smaller pool than the rest of the world, it’s more personable, making it much easier to make real connections between you and any potential employer.

Do you have any tips for leveraging your Penn State experience to help with a job search?