InternMatch Raises $400K To Help Students Find The Perfect Internship | Hacker News Reader

InternMatch Raises $400K To Help Students Find The Perfect Internship

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33 pointsnathanfp20 comments

My school, Penn State, has something called the Washington Program. You apply to the program, then the program coordinator makes calls on your behalf to his personal network of Penn State alumni and other internship sponsors from the DC area. The quality of these internships was incredible: students worked on Capitol Hill, for big name media outlets, and for public affairs firms.

The program works so well because each year it can deliver students who have the "Penn State Washington Program seal of approval", so to speak. To an internship sponsor, the value proposition is simple: "Liked last year's intern? Well here's another."

It's definitely good that a site like InternMatch exists, but I think the best way for students to land a competitive internship is through some sort of social validation. The Penn State Washington Program provided this validation to students who otherwise might not have any connections in D.C.

Perhaps there is some business opportunity here: provide social validation for potential interns just like the Washington Program, but at scale (think Monster.com vs. TheLadders). Or maybe this is something best left to universities and their alumni associations.

I think this is a really good point. Interns are usually unproven so any way to help bridge the trust gap with employers can make a big difference. With the "Penn State Washington Program," the student is essentially co-opting the program's brand to go from an unproven commodity, to someone who can hit the ground running.

There are a lot of tools we can provide to create this same effect for our interns: from coaching them on the importance of getting a TA referral, to making it easy for them to include a Github profile if they are a tech student. We have talked to a number of startups who say they read every application from interns who attach a Github profile because this shows a deeper level of interest in the field than the average student.

I like your point and we will keep innovating around this idea.

There are a number of other ways we can and will go to make sure we can help both sides determine high value matches, and feel confident with their choices in interns.

To some extent, isn't InternMatch structurally incapable of providing the same amount of validation as a college program?

A college program has few qualms rejecting someone. After conducting an interview, and reviewing writing samples and a resume, a college program will form a subjective opinion of the applicant. If the applicant garners a negative opinion s/he will be rejected, and the college program has no problem doing this.

On the other hand, InternMatch could have real trouble telling someone, "no we won't vouch for you"--it would be like telling a customer to leave the store.

Also, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to attack you or your biz model at all--just offering my POV. Best of luck and congrats on the funding.

I selected "any field" in both London and NYC and it had nothing for either. Not very useful without any listings.

Sorry for the confusion. We currently only have listings active on the west coast in California, Oregon, and Washington. We should definitely make that more obvious, especially when someone searches outside of our current territory. I'll add that tonight.

I only searched London because that's where I am and it geotargeted me. May want to limit that functionality too.

Good point, sounds like our auto-fill solution was too clever by half in your case. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

Actually, suppose we have internships to offer in your nonactive territories (say, the washington DC area), should we wait to post them? Also, would REU (research experience for undergraduates) be suitable to post on your site (we tend to pay about $4K for the summer for undergrads and offer free housing...).

Yes please wait to post if you are in DC (but feel free to use any of the employer resources). We are growing regionally so that we can develop a traction at universities and guarentee a match. We can't do that yet in Washington DC.

The position you are describing sounds great -- its paid, offers professional experience for someone interested in the field of research, the only question I would ask is if there is much interaction with you and other employees. If you added to the program a once a week coffee, where you or other experts in the office talked to the candidate for 30 minutes and offered context on how their work fit into a broader policy and research framework it would take the position to the next level and help you get superior candidates.

There are weekly seminars from researchers and daily interaction with supervisors. Projects have include math, physics, chemistry, biology, cs, and engineering...If you think you'll become operational in our area, I'll have one of our outreach people contact you.

If this is (temporarily) limited to a handful of cities, I'd find it easier to use a drop-down menu than trying to guess which cities you currently cover, though anything that just shows the list of covered cities would be nice. Not specifying a desired city seems to automatically pick my current location, and I'm not looking to confine my search to this area.

This is awesome. When I was in college (1986-1990) internships were a pretty new concept. Then when in MBA (1997-1998) it obviously became a bigger deal. But now, the practice is very much becoming the norm. But, the tools for students and companies to find one another are still archaic (school recruiting systems... and afterthoughts on Monster, etc).

Plus, it's just as important for companies to provide killer internships (to get the best students, year after year) as it is for students to perform.

It's an ideal way to recruit, and find great companies, and a space ripe for innovation and investment.

Very excited to see what the team comes up with (and yes, I'm a fan and advisor -- my enthusiasm runs deep, and is very genuine)

Internships are changing the landscape of labor where unemployment is still high. In today's economy, an internship is one of the most direct ways to gain access to ANY MARKET YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT. More and more undergrads are realizing this (and it's not just for those who are beefing up their resume). More grad students and mid-career folks are also realizing this. Employers are getting it.

Yes, perhaps YOU didn't get that job. But YOU can probably get that internship. Which LEADS to that job.

Sites such as InternMatch get that idea. They make this process easier for those of us who are searching. They seem to care about the search process and they keep it simple and personalized.

Keep up the good work InternMatch!

People complain about working for free all the time. I think they are pretty foolish. After all, historically people always paid for apprenticeships.

One thing to consider about unpaid internships is that they can limit the potential candidate pool. Not everyone can afford to work without being paid.

This is great! It's a great company that really delivers on their promises on both sides. For interns - an easy way to get an internship that's actually inline with their interests and skill development. For employers - a quality intern that can deliver quality work. As someone that's experienced both sides of the internship issue through InternMatch, this is well deserved. Congrats!

Same here. Internmatch really is a dream come true for college students hunting for opportunities like myself. I must say the user interface just blows away all the other competition I've seen out there and I've certainly checked just about all the competing sites!

excellent job on the site and best of luck, continue the great work!

This is a great company; they're simplifying the internship search for students and employers, alike, and fulfilling a huge need in the marketplace. Keep up the good work!

Way to go guys! It's awesome to see the company grow constantly. Keep up the good work : )

Congrats! The InternMatch guys are awesome and are building an amazing product.

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