Chet Schmid ‘12 and John Fitzgerald ’12 do not look like entrepreneurs. Clad in sweats and tee shirts, they look like any other typical college juniors.
But ask them about their new project, PennylessStudents.com, and they suddenly turn into professional businessmen.
Schmid and Fitzgerald, along with fellow junior Brennan Swan, have developed a genius prototype of a website that might just be the future for optimal communication between employers and college students.
“PennylessStudents.com is a secure, web-based, social networking tool that promotes student employment by connecting students with local employers,” reads the website’s mission statement. “[We allow] for both employers and student employees to create user profiles so that they can list various jobs in their given communities.”
Schmid, a communications major, says he came up with the idea during his sophomore year.
“The idea came from the complaint you hear way to often at Fairfield; you or your buddy needs forty extra dollars for the weekend, but doesn’t have a way of earning it,” he said. “This is a way of connecting that student worker to someone in the community who’s looking to hire.”
Getting Started
Since the idea was born, Fitzgerald, an information systems major, and Swan, a marketing major, have been working closely with Schmid to develop the website and to expand the project as a whole.
When an employer or student logs into PennylessStudents.com, they create a profile that the rest of the website community is able to view in order to search for whatever it is they’re looking for.
“For example, if I’m the employer, I can scroll through the Fairfield University network to look for people searching for internships,” explains Schmid. “I can see how they’re rated as an employee and I can see their resume, if they chose to post it.”
Another perk? It’s free to use and extremely user friendly.
Sounding Familiar?
Unlike its counterparts such as Monster.com or Craigslist, Schmid and the PennylessStudents team are seeking to create a far more organized, monitored, and safe system for its users.
“Have you ever been on Craigslist?” Schmid asks. “It’s completely unorganized. You don’t know who’s serious and who’s not. You can’t see ratings or any kind of credibility. Everything that’s going through our website is being monitored by us personally as of right now to ensure safety.”
“There will be no illicit behavior on PennylessStudents.com,” adds Fitzgerald.
It’s different from sites like Monster.com because it focuses on high school and college students specifically, rather than everyone and anyone looking for work.
The Future
Thus far, the PennylessStudents team has set up networks only for the Fairfield community, making it available for students at Fairfield Universtiy, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield Prep, and Fairfield Ludlowe and Ward high schools.
“Right now, our number one objective is to get more users to sign up,” said Fitzgerald. “In one year, we expect to be well-known and well-used in the town of Fairfield. Hopefully in ten years, we’ll be all over the country.”
And it’s not only for student benefit. PennylessStudents is looking to help the community.
“Its not just for kids who need a little extra spending money,” says Schmid. “It’s for the student whose parents can no longer afford to give their kids that extra hundred bucks for groceries. We want to give students that initiative in this bad economy.”
Penniless or not, the team says, it is a great way to establish bonds with employers in the community and further your resume and work experience.
“We’re targeting a social problem,” explains Schmid. “Students need disposable income, but they can’t find the jobs to provide that, even though we know they’re out there. We’re just penniless students recognizing the problems of other penniless students.”
Visit www.PennylessStudents.com and create an account to get started.
If you have questions or comments? Contact Chet Schmid at chester.schmid@student.fairfield.edu
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