Website helps students search for jobs

With graduation rapidly approaching, every senior is facing the first big step of living in the real world — getting a job. Though everyone wishes they could pull a Lupita Nyong’o and land the job of a lifetime right before snagging a diploma, sometimes people need a little help.

FirstJob, an online job search website, is here to help. The website ties together social media presence and online job recruiters to find students the best matches in their job searches. Their site takes into account details on one’s Facebook profile, such as mutual friends and past work experience, to establish connections and appropriate qualifications for entry-level positions in a field of one’s choice.

Sean Little, vice president of marketing for FirstJob and an alumnus of the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said that the company has a set goal of finding its users the best jobs or internships possible.

“We’re really passionate about helping current students and recent grads find the best opportunities available,” Little said. “We provide them with all the technology and resources available to make sure their experience is as intuitive and empowering as possible.”

As a member of the Class of ’06, Little feels the pain of many seniors who have yet to find a job. At the time, he felt stuck between checking uninteresting job opportunities on the career center website and searching online job boards, such as Monster and Indeed, the expansive databases that make finding appropriate jobs impossible. He networked through family friends to find job openings.

Thankfully, he eventually found a job at a firm before walking at graduation, but the process was long and arduous.

“One of the biggest hurdles for me was not knowing what type of jobs I may be a good fit for based off my experience or what I felt I was good at. I pretty much had to guess on what would be a good fit based off talking to my friends, parents and career counselors,” Little said. “Even then, advice was contradictory and confusing from each different group.”

The tools that FirstJob offers, however, would have taken the uncertainty out of Little’s job search. Its matching algorithm automatically pairs users to potential employers based on their skill set and experience listed in the “Job” section of one’s Facebook page.

In addition, Company Connect creates professional connections based on one’s list of friends, allowing students to have a more developed professional network in their tool belt come graduation. The website also has a blog that addresses key aspects of a graduate’s job search and helps to “break down important topics and answer pressing questions unique to college graduates and soon to be graduate job seekers,” allowing readers put their best foot forward in the process.

Looking back on this experience with insight from his current job, Little believes that having a website like FirstJob during the process would have alleviated a lot of the stress of finding a good job.

“If I would have had FirstJob at the time, its resources and technology would have helped me speed up the job search process, and be more confident in my choices,” Little said. “I am certain I could have found a better job that allowed me to get started on my current professional path faster with this kind of website.”

Besides those with full-time positions, Little also works with campus ambassadors at different schools nationwide to spread the word on campus about FirstJob. One ambassador is Eric Brunts, a sophomore majoring in industrial and systems engineering.

Brunts said he believes that FirstJob is unique because it offers a different way of going about finding a job.

“The website works on a more personal level than various online job boards because it pairs you with a job that is suitable to your experiences,” he said. “As long as you put in the effort to make your profile as complete as it can be, the website will provide tailored results that will better guarantee a good outcome come graduation.”

Though he has only been an intern with the company for a month, Eric believes that his work at FirstJob offers a unique perspective in the job-seeking process that will give him a competitive edge when he is a senior. Little agrees, stating that a big part of his job is to “work with our various campus ambassadors at different schools across the country to help them learn marketing skills that they can apply to the program and carry forward later in their careers.”

 

Firstjob is and available online at firstjob.com.