Students are constantly on the lookout for part-time jobs. Companies, on the other hand, are always looking to hire part-timers.
However there's a disconnect — Many of these companies do not know where to find these part-timers, and likewise, many students are constantly needing to scour Facebook groups in order to find job openings.
This is the problem Diana Woon hopes to solve with Wecruited — by pairing students seeking part-time jobs with companies that are seeking to hire in a simple yet effective fashion.
Wecruited official website at Wecruited.com
In an interview with Diana, we gained a deeper understanding of what it's like juggling her studies and her entrepreneurial life simultaneously.
Below is the interview:
1) How did you get started with WeCruited? What was the primary driver for starting this whole venture?
I worked alongside my core studies for two years – as a marketing intern at an engineering firm, a retail assistant at a women’s fashion boutique, and a marketing intern at a local fashion startup (since I was 17y/o). I managed to learn a lot and I wanted my peers/college students to benefit from this too.
Eventually, WeCruited started off in May 2017 as a recruiting platform to match students with part-time jobs.
Shortly after I've started, I stumbled upon a mentor on LinkedIn who shares the same passion as I do in education and we concluded that providing students with part-time jobs alone was not sufficient to bridge the gap between college students and the workplace.
Apart from gaining freelance working experiences, we believe that students need to be exposed to a wide spectrum of career options and be taught the basic concepts and skills of different professions.
Because of that, we have expanded WeCruited's platform in July 2017 to also provide students with the opportunities to be matched with industry experts as mentors (via online mentorships) and to experience what it's like to work in the different fields through part-time internships (2days-3days/ 20hours weekly across 3 months) and full-time internships.
2) What are some biggest obstacles you face in running a business like yours? As the mindset and work ethic between the newer and older generations are very different, how do you bridge this gap with WeCruited?
What we’re bringing to the market is quite new.
On the one hand, we are introducing part-time internships for proactive students to take on while they’re studying and we are convincing them to go on multiple internships before they graduate. We think this is the best way for students to develop in-demand skills, expand their professional network, and gain industry-specific working experience and exposure.
On the other hand, we’re convincing employers to recruit not just full-time interns but also part-time interns because when employers do so, they are able to recruit more quality students (not just those who are forced to go on an internship due to course requirement/have 3months break) to deliver results, hire all year round and retain these interns for their official internship period / full-time roles.
Diana Woon, founder of Wecruited
3) You have started your entrepreneurship journey at a very young age, are there any challenges faced as a young entrepreneur?
When I was 19 years old, I knew very few people outside of college, and apart from textbooks and what my lecturers taught me, and I had no clue about running a business.
I did not know where I could seek help but I do know that there are many networking events. I started attending these events alone to talk to as many people as possible about WeCruited.
Challenges Faced - From people who fake their interest in the company and arranging more meetups for unrelated reasons, to people who think I should focus on completing my degree before starting something on my own. I’ve met so many people who just have other hidden motives.
Another challenge that I face is also having to ensure that I don’t neglect my responsibilities as a student – finishing assignments on time and making sure that I don’t miss too many classes each semester due to work.
4) What is your plan to grow WeCruited in 2018?
By the end of 2018, we are hoping to offer our recruiting services to other major states such as Penang, Perak, and Johor where we’ve already been getting job postings from.
5) What is the best piece of advice you can give to young entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs out there?
If what you’re working on is improving people’s lives and if that brings you genuine happiness, keep believing in your team and yourself to reach more lives and never stop reminding yourself why you started this business.
And if you’re a student reading this, hello hello! If you’d like to pick up more skills before you jump into entrepreneurship, feel free to reach out to me personally for the other options available.
