After launching a talent pipeline initiative with Wichita State University last year, local tech startup Knowledge as a Service Inc. has made its first full-time hires through the program.
The company says in a press release that it has hired Tegan Erwin and Lillian Cota, both of whom originally joined KaaS last fall through the Shocker Career Accelerator.
Erwin, who graduates this spring with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, will work as a senior success coach, while Cota, graduating in July with a bachelor’s degree in economics, will be a sales operations specialist.
“Partnering with WSU and the Shocker Career Accelerator has introduced our company to amazing people,” said KaaS co-founder and Chief Vision Officer Robert Feeney. “We hope more local organizations activate this resource and the pipeline of talent already here in Wichita and Kansas.”
KaaS, a 2022 WBJ Innovation Awards Winner, moved the entirety of its operations to Wichita last June.
It has since taken up space in the Garvey Center downtown, where it has previously targeted hire around 40 people by this summer for its growing operation.
KaaS is provider of Ringorang, an app-based, continual training platform that employers can use to help drive home the skills needed for everything from safety to processes.
As Feeney told the WBJ in April, the hope is that its partnership with WSU not only bolsters its own talent pipeline, but also provides Rinorang potential training applications in similar university-employer programs around the country.
“The Shocker Career Accelerator aims to provide WSU students meaningful applied learning opportunities in their chosen career field – building their resumes and getting them in the door of top employers,” said Tonya Witherspoon, WSU associate vice president for Industry Engagement and Applied Learning. “Success stories like Tegan’s and Lillian’s are not rare – with nearly 74% of WSU students)accepting positions in Kansas after graduation.”
