1. Ideate
This submission is composed of the following
slides:
1. Problem statement
2. Visual of ideation mind-map. Might be hard to
read, link to high-res version provided
3. Enumeration of ideas for easy evaluation
4. Summary of selected ideas
2. Problem statement
• Principal-level civil engineer, bright, engaging, friendly, exacting. She
has hired a number of entry-level engineers right out of school into
her group, and wants to hire more, and integrate them in her state-
of-the-art consulting practice.
• needs a way to
• connect with students, learn more about their work, and gage their
willingness to adapt to the demands of an employed position
• because
• she feels the exchange of information between students and
professionals interested in hiring should not be restricted to the
formal interview process, and take place over long periods of time,
to allow a connection to form, facilitating both selection and
integration.
4. Enumeration of ideas – Part 1
• 1. Internships
• 2. Career fairs
• 3. Conferences
• Mini-internships using:
– 4. Skype
– 5. Amazon Web Services setup
– 6. robotic telepresence (e.g. Double Robotics)
• Mentorship programs
– 7. Students who have transitioned into work mentor younger students
– 8. professionals mentor students
• Remote viewing. Install CCTV and allow:
– 9. students to view workplace during work hours
– 10. Employers view students during class, study time
5. Enumeration of ideas – Part 2
• Have professionals
– 11. Call student on phone regularly
– 12. Visit them at home/dorm
– 13. connect on Facebook
– 14. interact solving some common problem
• 15. have companies setup challenges, students compete for prizes
• 16. Setup website analogous to TaskRabit for students, reward with reviews
• 17. Establish companies for sole benefit of students getting
professional experience
• 18. Subsidize companies to offer internships
• 19. Force students to take at least 6 months of to work in the
middle of their studies
• 20. Make documentaries of what professional life looks like in
different lines of business
6. Enumeration of ideas – Part 3
• 21. Find work-like volunteering opportunities for students
• 22. Link unemployment benefits to mentoring graduating students
• 23. Website where students can build work porfolio – similar to LinkedIn
for students
– 24. Professors curate and evaluate portfolios
• 25. Students make visual portfolio of their work
• 26. Companies who hire make video describing typical workday at position
• 27. Online forum where students can ask questions about line of work,
specific job or workplace
• 28. Online forum where hiring managers can ask questions about
students.
• 29. Forum where students and hiring managers share more personal
information about themselves
• 30. Teleport students to workplace to try it out
7. Enumeration of ideas – Part 4
• 31. Use telepathy to gage students’ skills and adaptability
• 32. Use matching algorithms to match all students to internships – similar to
medical internships after medical school
• 33. make internships compulsory
• 34. correlate professor pay with students’ success finding work
• 35. evaluate students on both academic performace, and (simulated) professional
performance
• 36. have employers for summer jobs and internships report performance to
universities
• 37. grade students on how many connections they make with professionals
• 38. have students write/blog about experiences in school-to-work transition
• 39. Give bonuses to professors based on students professional success
• 40. Have professors assess students ability to perform in professional environment
– 41. have employers subsequently confirm that assessment
8. Enumeration of ideas – Part 5
• 42. Give incentives to professors to organize workshops that showcase
their students’ work and engage industry
• 43. Link tuition to salary after school to incentivize universities to better
prepare students
• 44. Have students follow business dress-code and schedule for a semester
• 45. Universities give access to more detailed information about students
to companies that hire interns
• 46. Hiring managers have to devote some weeks per year working as part
of HR, helping the hiring process
• 47. Companies have to offer internships as proportion of their headcount
• 48. Have professionals give talks at universities about realities of work
• 49. Establish peer-review system akin to the one for scientific research,
but for professional-like performance in school
– 50. Reviews that diverge from mean impair credibility score of reviewer
9. Enumeration of ideas – Part 6
• 51. Students make pact – whoever gets job first lets the other one
shadow him/her
• 52. Companies allow students to shadow employees
– 53. Get some preferential treatment/information for doing so
• 54. Speed-dating for students and employers in final years of study
• 55. Organize retreats, where students spend time with
professionals
• 56. establish dress-code in school
• 57. offer free lunches to professionals at University cafeterias
• 58. Have professors volunteer at companies, to forge ties with
industry.
10. Selected ideas
1. Virtual micro-internship: use technology, such as Skype, or robotic
tele-presence (www.doublerobotics.com) to complete short
duration internships, focusing on well-defined tasks (to some
extent similar to TaskRabbit).
2. Student work portfolio: students put together a web-based
portfolio of their academic work, and their expectations and
aspirations regarding professional work. Employers can search
portfolios, and engage students of interest to start forming a
relationship years before graduation.
3. Academia – industry workshops: provide incentives to academics
to organize workshops showcasing students’ work, and incentives
to employers to attend them. Use these forums to foster relations
between students and employers. Incentives can be
institutionalized, or monetary.
