Sycamore CAREERlink

Students and Alumni Users Guide

About Sycamore CAREERlink

Sycamore CAREERlink is a web-based system linking students, alumni, and employers through the Career Center. Sycamore CAREERlink is part of the NACElink Network, a partnership between NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers), DirectEmployers Association, and Symplicity Corporation.

• Who can use Sycamore CAREERlink?
  
  
  • Any organization that adheres to the terms of use regarding Sycamore CAREERlink may obtain an employer account at no charge. 
     
  • Indiana State University Faculty and Staff may also obtain a employer account at no charge to search for candidates that match positions of which they are aware
     
• How do I register for a Sycamore CAREERlink employer account?
  
  
  • Please register using our online Sycamore CAREERLink Employer Registration Form.  You will receive your username and password via e-mail usually within one business day.
     
• What are the policies regarding use of Sycamore CAREERlink?
   
  • Sycamore CAREERlink Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
     
• What will I be able to do?
  
  
  • Post unlimited jobs to ISU free of charge!  Or, post positions to ISU and other NACElink Network colleges and universities for a nominal fee.
     
  • Schedule Campus Interview visits and manage related application materials online.
     
  • Search categorized Resume Books for candidates that meet your needs.  View candidate resumes online, download candidate information to an Excel spreadsheet, or created customized PDF Resume Packets.
     
  • Manage job postings and candidate applications online.
     
  • Use your Sycamore CAREERlink login to gain access to other NACElink Network affiliated schools

• Scheduling Campus Interview Visits, Information Sessions, and Posting On-Campus Interview (OCI) Jobs
  
  Please refer to our separate Employer OCI User Guide for instructions on campus interviewing.
   
• Posting NON On-Campus Interview (OCI) Jobs
  
  There are two job posting options within Sycamore CAREERlink.  The first is to post your position exclusively to ISU.  The second is to post your position to ISU and other NACElink Network institutions.  ISU Only postings are always free of charge, while Multi-School postings carry a fee (You will only be charged for posting to schools in addition to ISU, not for the post to ISU as part of a multi-school post).
  
  To post a job to ISU only, click the jobs link in the navigation bar.  Then click the "Add New" button at the bottom of the ISU Only Postings tab.  Fill in all required information (indicated with a red *), any optional fields that apply, and click the Submit button.
  
  To make a multi-school posting, click the jobs link in the navigation bar.  Then click the "Add New" button at the bottom of the Multi-School Postings tab.  Fill in all required information (indicated with a red *), any optional fields that apply, and click the Save and Continue button.  Select any schools desired in addition to ISU, click the Review button, and then Click the Proceed to Checkout button to to make payment and submit your posting.
  
  For either posting type there certain options that govern how applicants may apply and what documents they will be instructed to submit.  The Resume Receipt options govern how applicants may apply to your job.  If you choose either or both the "e-mail" and "accumulate online" options, then applicants may apply online through Sycamore CAREERlink.  If you do not wish to allow applicants to apply through Sycamore CAREERlink, you may choose the "other" option which will open a "How to Apply" field in which you may specify alternative application instructions.  If you choose the "e-mail" option, you will receive an e-mail with attached application materials for each application made.  If you choose the "accumulate online" option, then application materials will be stored for online management under the Student Resumes tab of the job postings page.  Choosing all three options is permissible but is likely to cause confusion for the applicant.
  
  The Additional Documents field allows you to specify what documents, in addition to the resume, that you would like to REQUEST from applicants.  Only the resume may be REQUIRED of applicants applying through Sycamore CAREERlink.  If you specify "other" as a document type, please be sure to provide details on what is requested in the document notes section.
  
  When entering multiple positions, you can take advantage of the copy existing option at the top of the job form to pre-populate fields with information from a pre-existing active or archived job.  Be sure to alter any information that differs from the pre-existing job before saving your post!
  
  
  • What happens next?
    
    For ISU jobs, your job must be approved by Career Center Administrative Staff before it is released to applicants.  For multi-school postings, your job may require approval from administrative staff at other institutions - depending on the policies in place.
    
    Once your posting has been approved, it will display on the job postings page with a green check mark to indicate it has been approved.  You will also receive an e-mail notice to confirm your post has been accepted.
     
  • Editing, Cancelling, Extending a job post
    
    You may deactivate an ISU Only posting at anytime by clicking the Deactivate button for the position under the job postings page.  You may similarly edit the position and extend the expiration date by clicking on the job title to bring up the edit screen.  Simply make your adjustments and click Submit.  Any changes made will, however, require re-approval by Career Center Administrative Staff and have the effect of taking your job offline until that time.
    
    Please contact  NACElink Network Customer Service for further details regarding editing, cancelling, or extending multi-schools job postings.
     
• Managing Applications
  
  If you elected to store candidate applications with the "accumulate online" option when you posted your position, you will have the ability to manage applications through Sycamore CAREERlink.  Click on the jobs link in the navigation bar and then click the Student Resumes tab.  Application records for all your "accumulate online" postings will display.  You may filter the list to applications made for a specific position by selecting that position from the filter list at the top of the page.  For each application record, you have the ability to set a status indicator ("interested", "not interested", "reviewed", etc.) to help you keep track of what candidates you are interested in pursuing.  You may filter for records having a particular status designation by selecting the appropriate value from the status list at the top of the page.  You may completely delete an application record by clicking the Delete Application button.
  
  
  • Working with Batch Options
    
    For each application record, you should see a selection checkbox.  Use this checkbox to select all desired candidates for Batch Operations (E-Mails, Excel Spreadsheets, Custom Resume Packets).  You can use the "+" and "-" icons to select and de-select all candidates.
    
    
    1. Mail to Checked: use this option to send an e-mail to all selected candidates.  You may even insert mail-merge fields in the body of your e-mail to personalize the message.  For example, you could insert "Hello [fname]" to include the applicant's first name in each message sent
        
    2. Save to Excel: use this option to generate an Excel Spreadsheet containing basic academic information and a hyperlink to the candidate's resume
        
    3. Generate Book: use this option to create an indexed PDF Packet containing resumes, and optionally other requested documents, for all candidates selected.  Click the Generate Book button, provide a name for the packet, and then select any additional requested documents to include.  Click Submit Request.  Within 5 minutes you should receive an e-mail notifying you that your PDF packet has been created.  You may then click on the Publication Requests tab of the job posting page to view and download the PDF Packet file.
       
       
• Searching Resume Books
  
  Student and Alumni resumes are stored within "Resume Books" categorized by the colleges at ISU.  Click the resume books link in the navigation bar, and then select the resume book you would like to search by clicking on the title.  The resume book will now open with all the students whose majors fall under that college displayed.  You can click the student or alumni's last name to send them an e-mail, and click the resume icon to open Adobe Acrobat Reader and view the resume.  (NOTE: Resumes are stored in PDF format.  You must install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view resumes)
  
  You can filter resume books in a variety of ways.  At the top of the screen is a "quick search" area where you can filter for specific majors within each resume book, class standing, and applicant type.   If searching for a particular student or alum, you can also specify keywords with which to search, such as a last name.  One nice feature of resume books is the ability to type in keywords that you are interested in finding in the text of resume documents.  Enter your keywords in the Resume Text Search field, and then click Apply Search.  If matches are found, the screen will re-display with a "match context" box now visible.  The match context box highlights the matched keywords in the resume and gives you some context for the word's usage.  This allows you to separate, for example, Java, the computer programming language, from java, the coffee.
  
  The quick search features are usually sufficient to achieve the desired results; however, if you need to further refine your search results you can use the advanced search form.  Click the Advanced Search tab on the resume book of your choice.  Here you can form complex searches by combining search criteria in any number of ways.  Hold the CTRL key to select several values in any of the multi-valued lists.  (Remember that you are forming a logical AND condition between criteria, and a logical OR condition within criteria.  If you have no preference for a particular field, simply leave it blank)
  
  
  • Working with Batch Options
    
    For each record in your search results, you should see a selection checkbox.  Use this checkbox to select all desired candidates for Batch Operations (E-Mails, Excel Spreadsheets, Custom Resume Packets).  You can use the "+" and "-" icons to select and de-select all candidates.
    
    
    1. Mail to Checked: use this option to send an e-mail to all selected candidates.  You may even insert mail-merge fields in the body of your e-mail to personalize the message.  For example, you could insert "Hello [fname]" to include the applicant's first name in each message sent.
        
    2. Save to Excel: use this option to generate an Excel Spreadsheet containing basic academic information and a hyperlink to the candidate's resume.
        
    3. Generate Book: use this option to create an indexed PDF Packet containing resumes for all candidates selected.  Click the Generate Book button, provide a name for the packet, and then select any additional documents to include.  Click Submit Request.  Within 5 minutes you should receive an e-mail notifying you that your PDF packet has been created.  You may then click on the Publication Requests tab of the resume books page to view and download the PDF Packet file.
       

FAQ's

• What should I do if I cannot login to Sycamore CAREERlink?
  
  After your registration is processed by the Career Center, a central database account is created that allows you to login across all schools in the network with the same username and password. Once your account is "centralized", individual Career Services Offices do not have the ability  to change your password.  What you can do is to use the forgot password tool to reset your password and send a new password to you via e-mail.  Once logged in, you can change your password to something more familiar.  If you are still unable to login, please contact either NACElink Network Customer Support or the ISU Career Center at 812-237-3806 or 888-892-6044 (Toll Free).
   
• How do I post a job to Sycamore CAREERlink?
  
  Please refer to "Posting Jobs" in the Using Sycamore CAREERlink - Basic Tasks section above.
   
• How do I manage applications within Sycamore CAREERlink?
  
  Please refer to "Managing Applications" in the Using Sycamore CAREERlink - Basic Tasks section above.
   
• How do I search for student and alumni resumes?
  
  Please refer to "Searching Resume Books" in the Using Sycamore CAREERlink - Basic Tasks section above.
  
   
• Can I register for On-Camus Interview visits and Information Sessions through Sycamore CAREERlink?
  
  Yes, please refer to our separate Employer OCI User Guide for instructions on campus interviewing.
   
• What is the significance of the Alerts section on my homepage?
  
  The alerts section displays information regarding the number of resumes you have received for your job posting(s), the number of resume books and applicant resume packets you have awaiting download, etc.  In general, the alerts section simply provides quick reminders for you.
   
• Where can I get additional information/help for the Sycamore CAREERlink system?
  
  Within Sycamore CAREERlink you can find context sensitive help about most activities you will need to perform within the system. If your question is not addressed here or within the system help messages, please use the feedback form on the homepage. You may also request information by contacting the Career Center at 812-237-3806 or 888-892-6044 (Toll Free), or by sending an e-mail to scl@indstate.edu. We will answer your questions A.S.A.P. during our operating hours!