COVID-19 has and continues to impact the recruiting industry significantly, much as it has, every other industry and facet of life. Six months into the pandemic, the U.S. economy has gone through the ringer. Well over 50 million people have filed unemployment claims, GDP declined 9.5% quarter-to-quarter, and over 420 corporations have filed bankruptcy.
In the midst of this, students, specifically those from underrepresented backgrounds have been facing uncertainty around their career prospects. When we saw this, we decided to take action, laying out a roadmap for helping them navigate the uncertainty and create opportunity for themselves. We’ve been heads down working to execute an honor that commitment. I’d like to take a moment to give an update.
Talentboard.io
Our first step was to launch Talentboard.io. We partnered with 20+ companies to create a Talent Development Program. A weekly series that reached over 2500 students with a focus on helping them acquire exposure to great companies and skills to land their first internship or job. Week to week, it was incredible to provide participants with opportunities to build their understanding of swe roles, product management, the gaming industry, resume development, and more.
Students were able to network with each other, developing relationships that will benefit them over the long-term. Ultimately, we were able to position the participants to be recruited by the companies we partnered with, we’ve gotten feedback on offers accepted and will be tracking those outcomes through the recruiting season..
InternHacks
As the U.S. economy went through upheaval due to the pandemic, countless numbers of students got notice that their internship had been cancelled. We combined the best parts of an internship and a hackathon – meaningful project work, teamwork, mentorship, and networking opportunities – and built InternHacks to help students take their careers into their own hands.
The 6-week program led by Supriya Sanjay, Iris Oliver, Zohaib Iman, and Bori Oludemi created an opportunity for students to gain valuable project experience, develop their technical skills, while getting access to engineering mentors from great companies, and demo what they built. We had 167 participants who secured over $15,000 in prizes from our sponsors ebay, Netflix, Verkada, Eaze, Lyft, Robinhood, IMC Trading, WomenPM, MongoDB, Amazon Robotics, Contrary Capital, Karat, and CodeSignal. We’re excited about how this has positioned 167 students who lost internships to secure offers from our partners and other incredible companies who caught wind of the magic our students were building.
We’re Not Done
This has been a challenging time for many. I know it has been exhausting for me but that doesn’t compare to some of the real world challenges people are facing. That keeps me going, and I’m not going to stop. We’re going to keep building and bringing great companies together to support students and underrepresented talent in taking their career into their own hands and break into the industries and companies they want to.
I’m so grateful to everyone involved that has pushed hard to ensure participants in our programs build their confidence, gain new experience, and access to opportunities. Lets keep going. If you’re interested in partnering with us, we’re happy to connect.
