Networkify | Devpost

Problem

the career challenge

the current process for college students to network and identify career plans is scattered and counter-intuitive.

for college students to discover a comprehensive set of possibilities for what they want to build throughout their career, they must explore through programs such as clubs, internships, and fellowships. however, these resources are not accessible to everyone.

career mentors are often cited as a strong way for students starting out to gain advice and build a robust plan to launch their career. one common way for students to find mentors are through platforms like clubs and LinkedIn DMs.

often, students will send out 100s of DMs with little to no success. inherently, mentors are more likely to read shorter messages and ultimately pick students with more experience already (those with prestigious internships, school brands, etc.). however, this overlooks many students and makes it much less accessible for ambitious and intellectually curious students without these attributes.

Networkify solves this problem by leveling the playing field - allowing students to showcase their mindset with more than just their LinkedIn headline, and allowing mentors to uncover a pool of talent they may have overlooked.

Our Solution: Networkify

Networkify is a platform that connects students and mentors by matching them via a simple application process.

with Networkify, mentors earn the chance to personally review student submissions and decide who they'd want to help grow the most. this adds meaning to the student-mentor connection by ensuring that each mentor is as committed to the student as the other way around. existing platforms do not often examine this connection, but there is added value to both the mentor and the student being equally committed to their journey together.

students submit applications on the platform to mentors of their choice. what this means is, Networkify will provide students with a venue to search through mentor profiles and decide who they'd most like to work with. once they've found n mentors that they might enjoy working with, they can submit an application.

on a weekly/monthly cadence (whichever is preferable to the mentor), they are notified of any student applications to review. from there, mentors can take time to read over each application and decide which students they have time the time/would prefer to commit to - Networkify will handle all of the logistics around meeting scheduling and applications.

mentors also have the option to create their personal application questions. this would give highly sought-out mentors the opportunity to filter students based on questions they have found to be strong indicators of success. both mentors and students would then have the opportunity to naturally connect - mentors would choose students who responded in a way that resonated to them personally, and therefore the connection between the two would be uniquely intellectual.

once a student is chosen, they will receive an email from Networkify describing their new mentor and the help they will give,, as well as instructions on the quickest way to setup a meeting. from there, the interactions will be primarily led by the students/mentors. both students and mentors will receive guidance from Networkify before they meet on ways they can prepare and potential topics to discuss.

from there, Networkify's role becomes to facilitate the new connection and ensure that both parties feel valued and understood. the platform will follow up with reminders, additional guidance, and to showcase to mentors what their mentees have built over time. this enables a "compound interest" effect of sorts - mentors become motivated to help more students as they see the tangible impact they've had, which in turn creates more mentors and more success in the future from those same students.

Why you should care

we've explained why Networkify is useful and the power it might have to uplift students and mentors, as well as bring professionals closer together through a culture of learning and ambition.

in our opinion, Networkify has the ability to transform the way students connect with professionals and think about the professional world. so many talented students enter their college and even industry careers confused about their path or what their life might look like n years down the road, and a human connection is the best way to solve that problem.

giving mentors the opportunity to build their own questions would be a transformative way to facilitate the interaction process - it would allow students and mentors to have a unique intellectual connection on their first meeting in a way that's rarely seen currently in a professional context.

by enabling as many talented students as possible to have meaningful face-to-face interactions with industry-leading mentors, Networkify could transform the mindsets of early students/professionals as well as standardize the powerful concept of professional relationships across generations. this would lead to a snowball effect of innovation and ambition across industries.

Future Plans

periodically remind students to keep in touch with their mentors
easier account access - phone verification instead of passwords
a page to search for mentors
a streamlined 5-step application process
a referral network to enable more meaningful connections among the community (past mentees introduced to new mentors, etc).