Other cities on the list include Los Angeles at number three with more than 2,400 openings, and Boston at number four, finishing just behind Los Angeles and launching into the Top 5 Cities for the first time. Philadelphia rounded out the Top 5 with 2,100 entry level job openings, bringing the grand total of the top 5 cities to 13,100.

A recent CollegeGrad.com poll found that 85 percent of entry level job seekers would be open to relocating across the state, across the nation, or even internationally.

“The willingness to relocate shows a potential employer that you are a flexible and dedicated employee who has the maturity to manage and embrace change,” said Leslie Chappell, Director of University Relations for Lockheed Martin.

To help determine the cost of living and salaries for different cities, CollegeGrad.com offers an online Cost-of-Living Wizard tool.

Entry-level candidates, recent college graduates and college students can now visit one site for relevant IT job openings and internships with Microsoft partner companies. Unlike other job search engines, the Microsoft S2B site is comprehensive and housed within the Experience Network, giving Microsoft partners unparalleled access to technically-focused students, alumni and universities. The site also enables users to leverage Experience’s personalized guidance capabilities based on candidates’ interests, skills and career levels; a web-based career portfolio designed for students and alumni to showcase skills and talents beyond the typical resume; online professional networking and mentoring; and relevant insight into career paths and industries.

“Quilogy is always looking for exceptional students who display the necessary skills and passion for using emerging technologies,” said Manish Chandak, president of Quilogy, Inc., a leading nationally recognized systems integrator, professional services, and certified training firm. “We are excited that the new Microsoft S2B portal allows us to identify and bring onboard students that we can train, mentor and move through accelerated career paths.”

“With so many entry-level IT jobs available, the challenge has been finding candidates who have practical work experience,” said Sheila Gulati, general manager of Developer and Platform Evangelism for Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to addressing the IT labor shortage, and one of our measures is to help entry-level job seekers acquire relevant skills. By partnering with Experience, a company that brings deep connections within the university community, we are building this Microsoft S2B portal to assist our partner companies in finding the Microsoft certified IT talent they need.”

Through the security-enhanced Microsoft S2B community, Microsoft partners can:

• Post jobs and internships to qualified students and recent graduates
• Search published resumes and profiles containing Microsoft competencies and certifications
• View recommendations identified through Experience’s proprietary data matching capabilities and receive and manage applications
• Search for additional candidates on the Experience Network and post jobs for other positions including sales and marketing, finance and other fields

”Experience has been in the business of managing robust communities that connect employers with students for more than a decade,” explained Jennifer Floren, founder and CEO of Experience, Inc. “The Microsoft S2B community is supported by a university-endorsed career management network with three million students and recent grads, giving Microsoft and its partner companies access to a large pool of available, skilled entry-level talent.”

During the hour long and very interactive discussion we talked how many Gen Y’ers think nothing of posting photos and other information to sites such as Facebook and MySpace under the mistaken impression that employers either can’t see it or won’t care about it. I showed some examples of students using the web to enhance their employment opportunities and others who are killing their chances because of what they’ve posted on-line. We also talked about what candidates can do to remove harmful information that they’ve posted or which has been posted by others and to bury information that can’t be removed.

I was very impressed with the students. In addition to be attentive and focused, they frequently asked great questions so we had much more of a dialogue than a presentation. That made it more interesting and educational for them and a lot more fun for me. Several of the students approached me afterwards to discuss their situations.

One takeaway that I need to chew on for a while: of the 75 or so attendees, only one indicated that he had heard of LinkedIn and that was because his boss had insisted that he sign-up. He uses it and understands its phenomenal potential for job seekers so hats off to him, but what about the others? Why are the others not using LinkedIn? Is it a generational gap? I can’t imagine that the answer is that they feel that it won’t help them because apparently only one had heard of it. If you don’t know about a tool, you can’t know whether it is going to help you or not. Perhaps the real question here is why haven’t these students even heard of LinkedIn and are they representative of students at other colleges across the country?