Monti is an operations analyst with Lehman Brothers in New York City, Smith a researcher/lobbyist with the National Conference of State Legislatures in Washington, D.C., and Storm an admissions counselor in Penn State’s recruitment and alumni volunteer program.        

Monti, Smith and Storm got their jobs because of their skills, experience, interests, and educational background.

But they were able to launch their careers in the right trajectory, at least in part, because they took advantage of expanded, individualized career services the University recently began providing to Penn State alums -- or because as upper-division students they networked with Penn State alums who were already in careers they found interesting.

Monti says that the various career service offerings at Penn State “all combined to help me find the direction I wanted to go in and the career I wanted to choose. You know – you get your degree and you don’t know where to go from there, because you’ve been going to school. Penn State helped me a lot in determining the career path I could take.”

At Penn State, a fall 2000 “Penn State Pulse” survey shows that recent Penn State alums are increasingly interested in alumni career services – and would even be willing to pay for services such as job vacancy/resume listings, Web-based networking, and access to on-campus job fairs.

This increased interest mirrors a national trend: as lifelong careers at a single company become increasingly rare, graduates of colleges and universities are realizing that one of the best jobsearch and career planning networks they can use is their alma mater.

The changing relationship between employers and employees is “a major societal shift,” says Jack Rayman, director of career services at Penn State.

“The cradle-to-grave contract you used to get at a major company is gone,” Rayman says. “It used to be that companies took a fair amount of responsibility for the career development of their employees. But now all that has changed. Now the responsibility rests with you -- the employee.”

To jump-start their own careers, Penn State grads Monti and Smith both used LionLink, an Alumni Career Services networking program that hooked them up with other Penn State grads who advised them on career planning, pointed them toward other valuable contacts, and helped open doors for them. LionLink was launched in 1996, in response to a survey that found Penn State alums wanted increased networking opportunities and on-line job postings.

The program is getting good reviews from alums. Monti and Smith liked it so much, in fact, that they’ve both signed up to be LionLink career coaches themselves.

Monti’s LionLink contact talked with her about her skills and her goals, helped her sharpen her resume, and suggested she pursue contacts with alumni association members in New York. “He helped me a lot in choosing which aspect of the financial industry I wanted to enter,” says Monti, a 2000 grad with a B.A. degree in finance and international business. “That’s why I’m going to try to give something back to other Penn Staters.”

“If any current Penn Staters in the LionLink program have questions about government and politics, I would love to talk with them, because everyone was so helpful to me,” says Smith, a 1999 Penn State grad with a B.A. in political science.  “The alumni were very supportive.”

Storm came to the career services office looking only for general information. But after he became aware of the expanded services for alums, he ended up having a number of one-on-one counseling sessions with Marron. He also did a videotaped mock interview, that -- along with follow-up review sessions -- boosted his job interview skills and helped him land his job in Penn State’s admissions office.

The mock interview “prepared me to think on my feet and really work on my communications skills,” says Storm, who has a B.S. degree in psychology from Penn State and a master’s degree in college student development and administration from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.

Penn State’s new and expanded alumni career services were launched in March 2000, through a cooperative effort of the Penn State Alumni Association and the University’s career services office – which is being funded by a five-year, $500,000 grant from MBNA America.

“Alums have always been able to use some career development services, primarily in programs for groups,” says Deborah Marron, director of alumni career services. “Now the program offers more services for individuals, including career counseling, career exploration, videotaped mock interviews, and career assessments.”

Also offered are guidance on personalized jobsearch campaigns, retirement planning, and “third age career planning” for retirees who want a new career, Marron says.

Currently, Alumni Career Services averages 12 counseling sessions a week, by phone or in person, and an additional 15 contacts a week with alumni seeking job posting information. It offers a job posting service on the Web at www.alumni.psu.edu/career, and is planning to offer a resume bank where alumni can post their resumes for employers to search.

The office is also setting up a network of Penn State alumni who are professional career counselors; they will help job-seeking Penn State alumni around the globe at a reduced fee.

Rayman sees his office’s link with the alumni association as a natural evolution in providing career services. “What is a Penn Stater’s largest network?” he asks. “It’s that network of 400,000 living alums out there.”

Historically, Rayman says, public universities have not tapped into their own alumni networks to help provide career services. But now at Penn State, because of changing societal expectations, Penn State’s many connections with employers, and alumni trust in Penn State, many more alumni are approaching Penn State for career services.

Currently, say Rayman and Marron, staff support for alumni career services is small. But in five or ten years, there could be a bigger staff, more financial resources, and a much more elaborate array of career services for alums, supported jointly by a fee structure and the alumni association.

If all continues to go well, says Rayman, the future could bring increased numbers of workshops to large cities, increased career services on the Web, and maybe even a branch office in one or two major cities. “If you’re going to get involved in this, you ought to take the services to the alums.”

But the attraction of dear old State remains strong, says Rayman. “Even though we have sponsored workshops in major metro areas like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, alums often skip those in favor of a workshop held at the University Park campus,” says Rayman. “It’s amazing how many alums like a reason to come back to Happy Valley.”

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For more information, contact Jack Rayman at 814 865 2377 or Deborah Marron at 814 865 9989.