Lesley Jackson, Associate Director of Graduate Student Career and Professional Development

Getting Support:

If you are new to Penn State or if you are continuing your education with PSU, The Office of Graduate Student Career and Professional Development provides a variety of resources and services. These services are designed to support you in successfully planning for your future. The Office provides personalized support, learning opportunities, and avenues for interacting with employers and key alumni. A primary goal of Graduate Career Services is to help you translate your academic skills to your chosen profession. We call this Career Readiness.

Graduate Career Services is your partner in providing comprehensive services to prepare you for professional success.

Personalized Support

During the Fall and Spring semesters, the Associate Director holds office hours that are available to graduate students to discuss a variety of career-related topics for more personalized support, such as:

Career planning & exploration
Resume and cover letter
Job applications
Mock interviews
Negotiating a job offer
Networking

Signing up for office hours, held in person or virtually, can be done on the main office website here: Career and Professional Development (psu.edu)

Learning Opportunities

Workshops and Career programming events are scheduled throughout the academic school year and provide an excellent opportunity to expand your knowledge as you plan for your future. Some are more targeted towards a particular discipline or population of students; others are appropriate for a more general graduate student body. Regardless, we strive to make sure all graduate students, regardless of academic program, campus, degree or career path feel supported. If you have an idea for a program, please reach out to us! A list of upcoming events for the year can be found here:

Career and Professional Development (psu.edu)

Additional Services on Campus

Campus Career Fairs

Penn State Career Services, our partners on campus, in collaboration with other colleges, campuses, departments, and student organizations, organize career fairs to connect you to recruiters regardless of your year, major, or industry.

Career Resource Center

Penn State Career Services also hosts a wealth of online resources for all steps of the career search process from career exploration tools based on interests and how you identify to advice on job applications, interviews, and negotiating a job offer.

Employment Opportunities

If you’re looking for a position at Penn State, you’ll want to review current job listings on the Nittany Lion Careers site. Log-in to review current listings posted by both the university and external organizations looking to add Penn State talent to their teams. This site is open to any individual with a valid PSU user ID.

Nittany Lion Careers – explore job opportunities specifically posted for Penn State students.