When I arrived at Dartmouth a naive little freshman from the hippie enclave of Seattle I had no concept of the terrifying ordeal that is corporate recruiting. Goldman and I weren't on a first name basis and I didn't (and still don't) know what consultants do. At first, I was put off by what seemed like a lack of diversity in career options open to Dartmouth students.
Two alumni, however, are trying to change that. In May, Jeff Iacono '05 and Paul Rosania '05 founded CollegeJobConnect, an online platform to connect undergraduate students with potential employers in various fields all over the country. The website currently contains a database of over 5,000 companies and allows student users to search by industry, company size and geography.
While still a student at the College, Rosania worked with one of the original founders of Facebook to created a job-search website called Joboozle. The company's biggest success came when MTV was hiring through their website, but Joboozle eventually shut down.
Both CollegeJobConnect founders went through corporate recruiting while at the College, and Iacono worked at an investment bank after graduation and later started his own consulting company. Rosania worked at a consulting firm and then at a start-up.
Unless you've been living under a rock (or in a hole next to Panarchy), you probably recognize these as the most stereotypical post-Dartmouth jobs possible. Rosania noticed this too.
"The narrow scope of opportunities available on campus caused me to end up taking a sort of wandering path to find a career that I really enjoy," Rosania said. "I started off where I thought the jobs were."
After working in corporate positions for several years, Rosania and Iacono realized that as much as students wish that there was a wider variety of jobs available, companies also wish they could recruit more heavily at the undergraduate level.
"We really saw the difficulties that companies can experience when trying to reach undergraduates and recruit them," Iacono said.
The standard "brick and mortar model" doesn't work for all companies, Rosania said.
Last fall, Iacono and Rosania began reaching out to college students, both at Dartmouth and other top schools, to brainstorm ways in which they could improve the job-search process. About six months later, CollegeJobConnect was born.
Although many students (read: every single person at this school) find Career Services' actual lack of services frustrating, Iacono and Rosania said they hope CollegeJobConnect will act as a "complement and a supplement" to Career Services, not a replacement.
So far, over 400 students have created accounts on the website. Although the site lists 15 colleges as its target schools, any undergraduate can upload a resume and sign up for a free account.
Max Yoeli '12, the on-campus marketing director, blitzed out about CollegeJobConnect earlier this week and said he has received positive feedback from his friends.
"I always found the traditional recruiting process sort of abhorrent and difficult and I always kind of self-righteously championed the idea of trying to find a job on my own," Yoeli said. "[CollegeJobConnect] seems like a down to earth, sensible way to approach the job market."
Student users have already submitted resumes to companies, and Iacono and Rosania said they expect to see students hired through the website shortly.
This fall, the pair hopes to come up to Dartmouth to talk to students about their company and entrepreneurship.
