By BRITTINY RAFFERTY
staff writer

Gannon University’s Career Exploration and Development office introduced College Central Network in 2016 to help you prepare for and find jobs and internships in your field of study.
“Gannon’s College Central simplifies the sometimes daunting task of searching for and pursuing experiences,” Brian Collingwood, the director of the Career Exploration and Development, said.
According to the College Central Network website, College Central was created in 1996 with the goal of “delivering the best entry-level jobs to your computer” and so far it has helped millions of students from over 3,200 schools in the U.S.
Collingwood said about 1,000 Gannon students have already utilized the portal since the beginning of the fall semester.
Sean Hupp, a senior sports management and marketing major, is one of the many students who have taken advantage of College Central.
“They have some pretty nice jobs and internship opportunities,” Hupp said. “I felt it was a little more aimed towards internships.”
“The great thing about our College Central is that all registered students this fall already have accounts built in the system,” Collingwood said.
College Central’s website can be accessed at collegecentral.com/gannon.
After logging into the portal, students will be able to browse and save or apply for their desired job, Collingwood said. The portal will also have on-campus recruiting activities and career workshops posted weekly.
“We feel confident that students will continue to see the value in leveraging this resource,” Collingwood said. “We’re continuing to make a concerted effort to expand our online resources and have already welcomed a couple of dozen employers to campus this fall.”
In addition to students having access to this portal, employers will also be able to log in and search for possible candidates, Collingwood said. These employers will also have to ability to post opportunities and manage their applications.
Because of this, College Central allows you to upload your resume and will help you to build a portfolio for possible employers to view.
According to College Central’s website, you are given the choice to build a general, art and design, dance, music or theater portfolio layout.
These profile layouts allows you to upload or embed videos and audio pieces to your portfolio to help showcase your skills.
For an example, if you are a communications student who is trying to obtain a radio internship, you could use a music layout. This layout would allow you to upload audio recordings of air shifts you had as a student on 90.5 WERG.
This first time Gannon had an electronic job, internship and experiences portal for current students as well as alumni, Collingwood said.
Collingwood said from scheduled or walk-in resume-writing appointments, to conducting practice interviews, to shadowing opportunities with local employers, his office offers multiple ways for students to connect.
For more information, call 814-871-7680 or stop by the Student Success Center located on the first floor of Palumbo Academic Center.

BRITTINY RAFFERTY
[email protected]