Harvard Alum's Recruiting Web Site Gains Student Following

Many college seniors stress out about finding a job after graduation. But one Harvard alumnus created his own job by helping thousands of other students find jobs of their own. Wellie W. Chao '98 designed and implemented an on-line web application called eRecruiting.com that cuts out a vast amount of paperwork and eases the search process for millions of students along the Eastern seaboard entering the job market annually.

Students with access to eRecruiting.com fill out a questionnaire about their biographical information, major, foreign language fluency, career fields of interest, geographic preferences and other relevant information.

They can use templates offered on the web site to format their resumes, format cover letters to potential employers or fill out standard application forms.

They can search for information about the companies they're interested in by industry, internships or job positions available.

In addition, students may also use the service's on-line calendar to check out the dates, times and locations of informational meetings, recruiting events and workshops.

Once they find companies they are interested in, the eRecruiting.com application allows students to apply for job openings and to submit their applications on-line.

According to the web site for Crimson Solutions (http://www.crimson-solutions.com/crimson_solutions/), the parent company of eRecruiting.com, the office of career services at the subscribing school then has the ability to reproduce student resumes and to release their names and addresses to prospective employers.

It can also sort the students in the database by any information given on the student registration form, thereby enabling the office to reach specific groups of students through email messages and form letters.

Recruiters use this service, too, to look for students with the desired criteria.

Once companies decide on a student, email is automatically sent to him or her, informing the student of the company's interest. Students can then sign up for interview times on-line.

But not just any student can take advantage of eRecruiting.com, says Bernie A. Longboy, the company's spokesperson and director of marketing.

Schools must pay thousands of dollars to subscribe to the service, and the costs are usually incurred by the schools' office of career services, Longboy says.

"We have a standard product as well as a customized system that can range from $5,000 to over $12,000," she says.

This service is currently in use at Harvard, Boston College, Bloomfield College, Boston College School of Management, Brown University, Middlebury College, Salisbury State University, Trinity College, Wellesley College, Tulane University, Franklin and Marshall College and the Brandeis University School of International Economics and Finance, according to a list maintained by Crimson Solutions.

Longboy says Crimson Solutions differs from other on-line recruiting systems because it was founded by students for the benefit of other students. Chao came up with the on-line recruiting idea in the

spring of his junior year after he missed the opportunity to apply for a Microsoft summer internship that he came across at the Office of Career Services (OCS) at the last minute.

"Our system was conceived by a student who saw a problem in the recruiting process and found a solution for it," Longboy says. "eRecruiting.com was designed and tested for over two years in conjunction with career counselors from several institutions, which makes it a system that really was designed by the very industry that uses it."

In addition, Crimson Solutions' web site boasts that no hardware is required to run the system, initial training and 24-hour support is provided to all subscribers, and a login and a special address are given to each registered student to ensure security. eRecruiting.com also publishes placement statistics and student surveys as a service to its students, it says.

Longboy estimates that the number of students in the database hovers around 40,000, and Chao says there were "1 to 1.5 million hits to our web page" last year.

Right now, Harvard's OCS takes advantage only of eRecruiting.com's research capabilities.

Judy E. Murray, OCS Recruiting Director, says, "It opens up the ability to research twenty-four hours a day, allowing students to work beyond the office hours for OCS. They can research these companies at midnight, on the weekends. All the information is there and what the companies want. It is a tremendous benefit to students."

However, Longboy says there's still room for improvement.

Although the current focus of the two-year-old company, whose 10-person staff consists mainly of Harvard alumni, is "the career services offices at undergraduate schools," Longboy says, "We plan to include more business schools as well as law schools. In the future, we expect our system to be the number-one system used by colleges, universities, employers and students in the entire job recruiting process."

Chao, Crimson Solutions' founder and CEO, says, "We want to grow and serve a variety of different colleges, a diverse group. Right now, we are talking to colleges in the Midwest and West. In five years, we want to be a nationwide presence.

spring of his junior year after he missed the opportunity to apply for a Microsoft summer internship that he came across at the Office of Career Services (OCS) at the last minute.

"Our system was conceived by a student who saw a problem in the recruiting process and found a solution for it," Longboy says. "eRecruiting.com was designed and tested for over two years in conjunction with career counselors from several institutions, which makes it a system that really was designed by the very industry that uses it."

In addition, Crimson Solutions' web site boasts that no hardware is required to run the system, initial training and 24-hour support is provided to all subscribers, and a login and a special address are given to each registered student to ensure security. eRecruiting.com also publishes placement statistics and student surveys as a service to its students, it says.

Longboy estimates that the number of students in the database hovers around 40,000, and Chao says there were "1 to 1.5 million hits to our web page" last year.

Right now, Harvard's OCS takes advantage only of eRecruiting.com's research capabilities.

Judy E. Murray, OCS Recruiting Director, says, "It opens up the ability to research twenty-four hours a day, allowing students to work beyond the office hours for OCS. They can research these companies at midnight, on the weekends. All the information is there and what the companies want. It is a tremendous benefit to students."

However, Longboy says there's still room for improvement.

Although the current focus of the two-year-old company, whose 10-person staff consists mainly of Harvard alumni, is "the career services offices at undergraduate schools," Longboy says, "We plan to include more business schools as well as law schools. In the future, we expect our system to be the number-one system used by colleges, universities, employers and students in the entire job recruiting process."

Chao, Crimson Solutions' founder and CEO, says, "We want to grow and serve a variety of different colleges, a diverse group. Right now, we are talking to colleges in the Midwest and West. In five years, we want to be a nationwide presence.