Northern Essex Community College students and alumni and area employers are connecting easily as the result of a new feature in the NECClink, the Career Services Management system, used by the Career Connections office.

Now all students enrolled at Northern Essex are automatically registered in the NECClink database, which is an online career services system that gives NECC students and alumni access to jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities, both locally and across the United States. Potential employers looking to hire NECC students can register and post job opportunities.

This system is free to students, alumni, and employers. Students and alumni are encouraged to create a NECClink profile in order to build resumes and cover letters, to explore industry and career related information, to view employer profiles, and to search for and apply to quality employment and experiential learning opportunities.

NECClink was introduced to the college in 2013. Previously students had to self-register to access the program, but now their information is uploaded automatically each semester as soon as they enroll at Northern Essex whether it is for one class or a number of classes.

“This change allows us to target jobs to students,” said Ashley Moore, Career Connections manager, who oversees NECClink as well as the NECC Internship Program. “Employers can register and select the majors they are interested in recruiting students from such as accounting or computer science from a comprehensive list of majors. Once employers register, we can email a targeted list of jobs to students based on their majors.”

Following the drop/add period each semester, all NECC students are sent an email welcoming them to NECClink with instructions on how to activate and use their account.

“We are really trying to get the word out,” says Moore. “We want students to be using it and we want faculty to know about it and encourage their students to use it.”

Moore says that on average there are between 120 and 140 local jobs regularly posted on NECClink. In addition, there is a link to USAjobs for student and alumni to expand their search.

Students are excited about NECClink’s capabilities, according to Moore. They like the resume builder and the ability to look for local jobs. She hopes the new ability to customize email blast specific jobs to students will make it easier for students to connect to local employers and jobs.

Emmanuel  Hernandez, a Northern Essex grad, is one of the many NECClink success stories. Hernandez, who was heavily involved with NECC’s Student Success Center, applied for a job through NECClink and was hired as a peer mentor in Lawrence. He returned to NECC this spring during the Graduate Networking Night, connecting with recent NECC graduates, but this time as an employer.

For more information on NECClink, contact Ashley Moore at amoore@necc.mass.edu or 978-556-3946.