For students whose post-graduate plans are pending, a new website is offering Gators a venue to market their skills for potential jobs.
http://www.collegefeed.com/, a new online social platform, is intended to serve as a personal career assistant for each student, said Sanjeev Agrawal, the founder and CEO of Collegefeed.
Students create profiles on the Collegefeed website to promote their skills, connect with companies and learn how to market their abilities.
The platform has attracted tens of thousands of college students since it was launched nationally about four months ago, Agrawal said.
He said he created Collegefeed because college students face a difficult situation other social platforms don’t address.
“Students have a very unique set of needs, primarily because they don’t have a lot of work experience and are not exposed to many companies,” Agrawal said.
Students can show academic projects, internships and work samples on their profiles instead of focusing on job experience.
Collegefeed is intended to bridge the gap between sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
“It can be very intimidating for students to have themselves on the same list as people who have been in the business for years,” he said.
Students often have trouble translating their academic experience and skills to the real world, Agrawal said.
Valerie Valcourt, a career ambassador at the UF Career Resource Center, agrees with Agrawal and said many students don’t understand how to market themselves.
She said students searching for jobs often focus too much on credentials.
“It’s just as important to have qualifications as it is to be yourself,” she said.
But Valcourt does not think UF students need a resource like Collegefeed as much as other college students might. Many students already find career advice through the center.
“We’re a very successful resource for career planning and career building,” she said.
Amanda Marino, a 20-year-old UF biology junior, said she thinks Collegefeed is a great idea but doesn’t think she would use it herself.
Marino said she’s more likely to find opportunities locally than by going online, but she thinks the site’s convenience will likely make it popular.
“It’s useful to have everything all in one place,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/22/2013 under the headline "LinkedIn-Facebook hybrid job site for post-grads gains following"
