Career searching and recruitment are no longer one size fits all now that inDegree, a site targeted specifically for graduates and alumni looking for employment, was launched publically Sept. 1.
www.inDegree.com is a site designed to help employers recruit recent graduates and alumni as well as keep universities in touch with their previous students.
Alex Miningham, CEO and co-founder of inDegree, had the idea of creating a Web site targeted for graduate students while job searching after receiving his MBA from Florida State University.
"I was expecting (FSU) to help out a little more than they did," Miningham said. "The career center was basically nonexistent - the process was terrible."
Miningham said he went to career fair and found he was overqualified for a job, which was surprising for him and his classmates.
"There was nothing currently in place (for graduate students), so I decided to start something up," Miningham said.
Miningham consulted Molly Wasko, associate professor at FSU, and she thought inDegree was a great idea. A year and a half later, the Web site launched a closed beta, a term used for a Web site that's not necessarily available to the public. The idea was to get some users to test the system and make sure the site was working properly when inDegree did launch.
The idea of inDegree is similar to that of LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals and companies, but is specifically for graduate students and includes a university connection, according to Miningham.
"The goal is to enhance and improve recruitment service for employers and allow our universities to keep in touch with alumni after graduation," Miningham said.
Miningham wanted to focus on graduate students, because there is a host of Web sites focused on undergraduate jobs.
"By focusing on our niche target audience, you better position yourself for high-paying jobs, (and) employers have more elite status within the community," Miningham said.
All inDegree users post a similar professional profile with a picture, contact info, the name and an "about" section where users may post text or multimedia features like video, photos and presentations that make them stand out from others, according to Miningham. Each user also has a "whiteboard," similar to a Facebook.com wall, where they may post additional information or updates.
"The better your profile is, the more attractive you're going to be to employers," Miningham said.
Employers have profiles as well that include company logos, descriptions of the company, current job listings and a whiteboard. inDegree also has a job search feature on the Web site, according to Miningham.
"All jobs are specifically for grad students only," Miningham said. "Every job that's posted pertains to (a) graduate degree or master's degree."
Miningham said users could manage all career activities such as who's downloaded their resume, where they have applied, etc.
"(We made) it in one location - that makes it a lot easier," Miningham said.
Employers can search for prospective employees on lots of different criteria including location, degree and university Miningham said.
inDegree also allows for graduate students to network with each other, Miningham said.
"When they enter in education information, (they are) put in the same network as classmates automatically," Miningham said.
He also said inDegree users can network with other employers and other graduate students. For instance, if someone knows of a job opening, he or she can refer another user to that job.
inDegree is still technically beta and is keeping its user numbers confidential, Miningham said, however, there are graduate students from more than 50 universities around the country including almost all the Ivy Leagues using inDegree.
The university aspect of inDegree can create college or program profiles within the university profile, according to Miningham. For example, Miami University might have different profiles for different departments and schools.
Erin Latta, 2009 Miami graduate, looked at inDegree for the first time Sunday.
"For me as a grad student, I won't need (inDegree) for a while, but I can see how it's nice to have an online place to keep your resume, because it's kind of a pain to send (your resume) to all those different people," Latta said.
Latta said she might look to inDegree in the future.
"I think it has a lot of potential to be helpful in the future," Latta said.
inDegree recently partnered with the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, a national organization that represents 350,000 students from more than 70 universities across the country.
"This partnership basically will help bring on most of the 70 universities across the country, gain critical mass and promote (inDegree)," Miningham said.
In the weeks following the Sept. 1 launch, inDegree has become more popular, and Miningham sees success in the future.
"The future is bright," Miningham said. "We recently just launched and we're up 600 percent with Web site traffic. We're starting to see that (J curve) which is very promising. We feel that we're going to be very successful and, of course, bring on 100 percent of graduate students across the country."
