As employers begin receiving resumes from the newest university graduates, a top concern is identifying which new hires will hit the ground running and which represent “projects” that employers simply don’t have time to train.

For more than a year, Michigan start-up companies Seelio from Ann Arbor and Digerati from Detroit and The University of Toledo have been working together to create a model that ensures students get the experience they need to succeed and can easily and effectively demonstrate that preparedness.

*** Media Opportunity ***
The partners will showcase the progress they’ve made helping students land jobs during their annual update meeting from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, May 16 at the Innovatrium located at 601 East University Avenue in Ann Arbor.
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For 14 months, UT has partnered with Digerati, a firm that has created a free match.com-like matching website called Intern in Ohio that connects students seeking relevant internships and employers seeking interns. The site asks detailed questions about what duties interns would actually do to ensure strong matches and valuable experiences.

More recently, UT and Digerati also have partnered with Seelio, a digital portfolio company that enables UT students to easily post video, documents and pictures to expound upon their resume in a way a cover letter cannot.

Specifically, almost 6,400 students and more than 500 Ohio-based businesses have enrolled in Intern In Ohio, posting some 1,700 internship opportunities. Further, Seelio has engaged more than 600 UT students from two of UT’s colleges who have begun building profiles to put them ahead of their peers in the job interview process.

“We’re not suggesting that internships and portfolios are new ideas, but by integrating these tools together, we’re creating a model to formalize the pathway students need to follow to demonstrate to employers that they can contribute effectively to their organization on Day One,” said Lawrence J. Burns, UT vice president of external affairs.

“In recent years there has been a growing question of whether a college education is worth the cost. By ensuring UT graduates have and can demonstrate their experience, they will earn a strong return on their college investment and so will the companies that hire them,” Burns said. “We think this is a model that can inform colleges and universities around the country.”