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Category: University and Further Education / Small Business / Careers / Work / Computers and Technology

Speed-dating-style event to lure Canberra students into local jobs

Monday, 23 May 2016 11:21:12 | Elise Fantin

Similar events have already been held in New South Wales and Victoria. (Supplied: Ribit)

Canberra students are being given six minutes to pitch their skills to local start-up firms in an initiative to keep talent from leaving the Territory.

More than 40 jobseekers will be taking part in a series of speed-dating-style meetings with prospective employers offering casual and part-time jobs and internships relating to their studies.

Student job-matching platform Ribit has organised the event along with the Canberra Innovation Network.

Ribit director Liz Jakubowski said students from the Australian National University, University of Canberra and the Canberra Institute of Technology had been invited to take part.

"The whole idea is to have this fun, creative, supportive environment," she said.

The event begins with local start-ups first delivering a 30-second pitch to the students.

"Often the whole energy is around the employer being in charge and the authority and students pitching to them, so we thought we'd actually invert it," Ms Jakubowski said.

"It really puts the students at ease because it is effectively saying, 'well you're there and putting yourself out there, so I'm going to make an effort'."

Students then have a six-minute window to promote themselves to employers they are interested in.

The 30 Canberra start-ups taking part include online businesses, software companies and marketing specialists.

Students have six minutes to pitch their skills

"We find by putting young people with entrepreneurial companies together, there's a flow on effect which is really valuable for the community," Ms Jakubowski said.

Ms Jakubowski said keeping students in Canberra after they complete their studies was a focus.

"There is evidence to show that roughly one in three Canberra students leave to create companies elsewhere in Australia," she said.

"What we're trying to do is to find ways of enabling this talent pipeline to stay here in Canberra and actually create the jobs here because we don't want jobs walking out of Canberra."

Canberran and chief executive of his own tech company Matt Bullock said he was on the hunt for employees at the event.

"No-one normally gets an opportunity for something like 40 students to turn up to try to find the best of the best," he said.

"I'm looking for ... the ability for someone to work really quickly and the ability to do this, drop that, do that."

Mr Bullock said the short speed-dating format was plenty of time to scope potential workers.

"I can do that in 30 seconds," he said.

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