(Gradberry's Iba Masood, Ryan Prince and Andi Milhomme)
Colleges aren't properly preparing students; ask employers. Better yet, ask Gradberry, the Boston-based startup closing the skills gap by providing young talent with the industry-relevant skills companies are saying they need.
"Industries are changing rapidly," Gradberry Co-founder and CEO Iba Masood told BostInno. "Things you learn in year one are outdated by year four."
When Masood graduated, she was "lost and confused," unsure of how to turn her new knowledge into a career. No platform existed that's sole purpose was to connect students or recent alumni with job opportunities. Although Masood had secured employment, it wasn't in her desired field, and so, on a whim, she reached out to Syed Ahmed (photographed below) with this idea of building a "LinkedIn for students and fresh graduates." Ahmed agreed, and, in 2012, the two started developing what's now Gradberry.
Fast forward nearly two years, and the idea has evolved, largely due to customer feedback. Four-hundred employers were featured on the Gradberry platform, but still weren't finding the skills they needed. "It wasn't enough for students to just have access to jobs," Masood acknowledged.
So, the founding duo decided to add courses to Gradberry's repertoire, each based on employer demand and developed by a working professional. Currently 30 courses exist on the platform, ranging from "Excel for Beginners" to an "Introduction to Digital Photography." Masood said they would love to be hosting 500 courses in the next few months, however, as well as having hiring companies contributing more material of their own.
"We really built the platform based on user feedback," Masood explained, speaking to both employers and students. "Students are confused. They'll say, 'I completed a degree in marketing, why can't I find a job in marketing?' Because the jobs are in SEO, etcetera. They weren't taught that at university."
Gradberry can help fill those gaps, by running students through a crash course in SEO. Upon completion, they receive a certification they can add to their talent portfolio. A long-term goal is for the certifications to primarily be based on companies' existing certification tracks. "Take a Microsoft Excel certification, for example," Masood explained. "After completing it, students could apply to a job through Microsoft itself."
The platform's modules were developed with the help of professors. Courses feature a blend of live webinars and interactive videos — a format Gradberry is currently experimenting with. Given that users live in different timezones, live lectures are hard to coordinate, but the site will remain interactive regardless, and allow students to communicate with their peers.
An added bonus for students is that Gradberry can help empower them. The certifications allow them to stand out in the job market and highlight during interviews that they possess the skill sets employers are looking for.
"Students are confused. They'll say, 'I completed a degree in marketing, why can't I find a job in marketing?' Because the jobs are in SEO, etcetera. They weren't taught that at university."
Given Gradberry's recent success, it's clear the startup is on the right track. The team won first place in the 2014 MIT Global Business Plan competition, walking away with $10,000, as well as a guaranteed slot in the second round of MassChallenge's judging process. The team wowed, and is currently a finalist in the accelerator's summer class.
Approximately 1,500 employers are currently using Gradberry to hire talent, including several startups working out of MassChallenge. Roughly 38,000 registered users are on the platform, representing more than 650 universities worldwide.
The Gradberry team has grown to six people, with three working in Boston and the other three based in Dubai. Moving forward, the group will be trying to not only add more courses to the site, but ensure the content is timely. When Apple announces a new programming language like it did at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Gradberry wants to launch a course on it that week.
And at that rate, employers will have nothing to complain about.
