NEW YORK — As job-seeking college students are all too aware, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. But for many, getting to know the right people can seem daunting, or even impossible.
On Feb. 4, Eduardo Saverin, a Harvard senior and co-founder of Thefacebook.com, launched Joboozle.com along with five others. Joboozle is a new website that allows students to network with company representatives and other students.
Premiering at the height of Facebook and Friendster culture, and just one week after the inauguration of CU Interview, a Columbia University-based website that posts students’ questions from interviews with various companies, Joboozle hopes to become the primary online networking resource for students.
Although officially unaffiliated with TheFacebook.com, the structure of the website reflects its simple layout. Career-seeking students at selected colleges and universities can find information about companies and contact company representatives, past employees and interns, and other interested students.
Students can send résumés directly to recruiters and post messages to company employees and students. And student-only forums allow job seekers to ask questions and give advice on topics such as interviews, resumes and etiquette. Website founders say Joboozle grew out of their personal dissatisfaction with the job search process.
“I became unbelievably frustrated with learning about firms through impersonal company pitchbooks and recruiting sites,” Saverin said in a news release.
Kwame Osseo-Asare, another co-founder, said “one of the biggest dimensions of the site is the interaction between students and employees.”
Saverin, Osseo-Asare and their partners have worked on the site since November, but plans were in the works as early as last April. Firms for which they had personally worked, mostly in finance, were the first to provide them with company information for the site.
Osseo-Asare said many companies they have contacted are excited to have a new, more personalized recruiting method. But the firms may not be as excited as some students.
“You wanna spell that for me?” asked Avigail Appelbaum, upon hearing about Joboozle.
She explained that, as a student interested in a less mainstream field like archaeology, she often feels like she’s “going it alone.”
“There’s a lot [of job opportunities] out there, it’s just often hard to find, and once you do, it’s hard to get the right contacts,” she added.
Indeed, many of the companies on Joboozle do not yet list the names of employees or past interns. But Joboozle is growing — the majority of information is still for finance, consulting and technology firms, but over the last week, the number and diversity of registered companies and students has increased.
The site currently hosts information for 2,728 companies and organizations. It may never be easy for students to find jobs, particularly in more specialized fields. But Joboozle hopes to fill a new niche in the world of cyber-connections.
— Courtesy of U-Wire
