11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1.     I am a second-year business student who has found her passion through relationship development, working in a number of capacities throughout Heavener to better first year students’ experiences and understanding of the college. I would associate part of my drive for this specific type of service and work comes from my Gallup’s StrengthQuest strength of individualization. While I have a keen interest in moving into management consulting post-graduation, I could see this business concept as becoming my side project that continues to fill my “why” as I look to bridge the gap between students, the universities, and recruiters. 

2.     The intended service is a internet-based platform that would allow students who were unable to attend in-person company speakers/recruiting events on campus to view the information sessions on the platform. We would be able to work with the data that the schools collect on popular speakers to upload prominent and popular companies, rather than bombarding students with all possible information, which can be convoluted. At the same time, the viewership and a comment/ Q&A portion per college’s site would be linked to recruiters, who would also be able to work with those students and utilize this data to better improve their recruiting tactics/ expand their own reach. 

3.     While designed for the purpose of helping students, the service would be offered to business colleges, since they would have to assist in the live recording of these companies and approve the compatibility of their website to ours. With business schools already acting as the gatekeeper between recruiters and students, we have to target the liaisons rather than who we truly wish to benefit. 

4.     With technology becoming more and more prominent in every aspect of a company, this allows for an additional point of contact and data point both for schools and companies. Teaching students that not everything will be face-to-face and learning to be comfortable with that fact allows for greater adaptation later on in the workplace.

5.     Our service is set apart by its core purpose. Just as Southwest and Apple have aspects of their company with allow them to remain at the top of their competitive fields, ours is about promoting positive connections that will lead towards successful, long-lasting jobs rather than a check-in-the-box for both recruiter and student. This service is looking to better connect a generation of workers to transformative jobs rather than to make one institution prominent or to provide a competitive edge. 

6.     Because it is an internet-based service, we are up against hundreds of thousands of websites vying for user attraction and retention. There has to be specific needs and purpose marketed to customers in order to demonstrate relevance and need rather than just the service itself. Like apps, there are many throughout the market that have great ideas but little traction. The focus must be on marketing the “why” rather than the “what.”