Some Ohio State students are using an online tool offered through the university to find jobs after graduation or internships in the spring.
FutureLink, an online career service provided by OSU, has been helping students within the College of Arts and Sciences find internships, jobs and fellowships.
Students who sign up for FutureLink have the option to upload a resume, a cover letter and writing samples and can apply for most job postings by clicking on the posting and uploading the documents requested by the employer.  
Students’ data including their name, major and GPA are already in the system when they sign up, so all OSU students have to do is personalize, said Stephanie Ford, director of Career Services within the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Everyone’s data is there, like a shell,” Ford said. “What we want students to do is to show the employers that they are interested in their company. Students should personalize their information before applying.”
Between the beginning of the school year and Oct. 23, 717 Arts and Sciences students submitted off-campus recruiting applications, and 339 Arts and Sciences students applied for on-campus recruiting positions, said Jeanine Baumann, the career technology and data coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences Career Services. Those students might have submitted multiple job applications as well.
Many employers use FutureLink to connect with possible employees. There have been 705 postings from the beginning of the academic year to Oct. 23: 425 were career employment postings, 249 were posted as internships, and 75 were posted as part-time or summer work, Baumann said.
Many of the advertised jobs are local.
“FutureLink has such a good availability of local opportunities,” Ford said. “It’s easier for students to find internships that are close to school and home.”
These opportunities have benefited some students who have been searching the job market.
“I found a bunch of postings I liked,” said Patrick Dempsey, a fourth-year in English and marketing. “I applied for maybe six jobs and got two interviews out of them. One person responded within 24 hours.”
Dempsey said when the only application requirement is to submit an online cover letter and resume, he will apply even if he’s underqualified for it.
“FutureLink definitely benefits students,” Dempsey said. “It’s much better than like Monster.com, which is like a shot in the dark sometimes. People are coming to the website to specifically look for Ohio State students.”
FutureLink is not the only career services website operated through OSU. There are career services websites for students in most of the colleges on campus, such as the Fisher College of Business, the Moritz College of Law and the College of Engineering.
This year, Ford said all of OSU’s career services websites are connected, giving students access to more job postings.
Even though the career services websites can be beneficial, some students think they are too confusing and difficult to navigate.
Eric Spoltman, a fourth-year in consumer and family financial services, said he uses websites to look for jobs, but he doesn’t use the websites that are offered by OSU.
“I use Indeed.com when I look for jobs,” Spoltman said. “The websites offered by Ohio State are confusing and it’s just easier to use Indeed.”
Ford said students who haven’t tried using the service before should consider it when looking for future jobs.
“Students should just try it,” Ford said. “You never know what kind of interviews you could get.”

Kaily Cunningham contributed to this article.