Recently I received a LinkedIn invitation to connect from Richard, a mechanical engineering student at University of Akron. The first line of Richard’s summary says, “Mechanical Engineering Co-op student seeking a summer assignment.” His invitation arrived in August probably too late for a summer internship.
I accepted of course after reviewing his profile. Richard has 500+ connections and a nice profile. Clearly he is unafraid of reaching out to people who might be helpful.
This got me thinking. The University of Akron Engineering School offers a co-op program so they must have some relationships with the business community. But they must not be able to provide every engineering student with a co-op assignment. Maybe that is not their job. I don’t really know. Richard has a lot of connections. Either his many connections failed to yield a summer internship or he did not update his LinkedIn profile yet.
I bet Richard is not alone. I bet he is not the only college student looking for a summer internship.
I bet there are companies out there that would be thrilled to have a summer intern if they could figure out how to navigate the university system. There should be a better way.
We can make this process a LOT easier with The Interview Doctor Talent Exchange. Connecting for internships is completely free to both the candidate and the company! Now when was the last time you heard about something FREE that could be helpful in job search? That is clearly a rhetorical question!
Here is how it works
Richard can go here to sign up for an internship. He enters as a job seeker. Lent He will create a profile and identify himself as a candidate for internships. Then he will answer a series of questions about his field and specialties, his preferred locations, the kind of people he prefers to work with and the way he likes to work.
If you as an employer wants to hire internships, you go to interviewdoc.workfountain.com to sign up as an employer. You will create an account and a profile. You will answer a series of questions about your business and the internship you offer. Then you will answer a series of questions about the work you offer to interns, the kind of people you have in your workplace and the way they like to work.
I bet you know what is next!! Next we make a match!
Once Richard and the employer press the “GO” button, the system begins processing, churning away like a big BINGO cage behind the scenes. The system is matching the kind of work Richard wants with the work that an employer offers. Then it matches the geography and industry. Then it matches the characteristics or competencies around the people and the way they work.
Zappo Wammo out comes a match.
The employer receives an email with the five or six candidates that match their requirements! Richard the candidate receives an email with the five or six internship opportunities that match their requirements!
They reach out to each other, talk, interview, explore to see if Richard is the right candidate for the employer’s internship opportunity.
No cost to anyone for an internship.
How does that sound? Do you think Richard could have leveraged his LinkedIn connections in this way? Probably not. In the meantime some employer missed out on having Richard as an intern this summer.
I bet The Interview Doctor’s Talent Exchange could have helped.