Hire a student at no cost: 5 tips for compelling project descriptions.

Internships and co-op programs that give learners real-world experience and course credit are a great way to hire students at no cost. Employers gain talented interns to work on short-term projects and fill their candidate pipeline. And students acquire industry knowledge and practical experience through work-based learning. It’s a win-win situation.

Yet attracting and hiring the right students can sometimes be a challenge. That’s where Riipen can help. Our experiential learning platform connects thousands of employers like you with motivated, talented students ready to tackle real-world projects. From posting opportunities and discovering learners who fit your criteria to collaborating with selected students and managing projects, it happens seamlessly on Riipen’s platform, at no cost.

This blog offers five practical tips on crafting project descriptions that capture the attention of the type of students you’re looking to hire, and inspire them to get involved. 

1. Be specific about your project and student profile.

Students seeking work-based learning opportunities will carefully review the project scope and candidate requirements to determine if it is a good fit for them. To attract the right students to your organization, be as clear as possible about these items in your project description. 

For example, use "Create a social media strategy” instead of “Create a marketing strategy.” Why? It attracts the right person for the task because it's a more specific and concrete description that signals exactly what you want the student to do.  So, if you want to work with students who have experience with marketing and particular social media platforms, include those details in your requirements. For instance, if you want them to have experience using Instagram, you might want to say,“The ideal candidate is an upperclassman majoring in marketing who has hands-on experience with Instagram.”The more specific you are, the more likely you will be to attract the talent you want.

2. Highlight real-world skills.

Students participate in internships and co-ops to gain experience applying their skills to real-world projects. So it’s important to include a list of skills in your project description. Whether the project requires technical skills like Python coding or durable skills such as communication or collaboration, students will be attracted to projects and organizations that clearly articulate what skills they will acquire. 

Our integration with Lightcast's Open Skills Library makes it simple for employers to highlight the most critical skills in their project descriptions. The Open Skills Library is a comprehensive, real-world dataset of 32,000 skills organized into 32 broad categories and over 400 subcategories. It is drawn from millions of job postings, resumes, and profiles and continuously updated by labor market experts.

When you create a project on Riipen, the integration automatically analyzes your description and suggests relevant skills from the library. You can quickly add, refine, or verify these skills, ensuring your project accurately reflects the competencies you want students to demonstrate. This helps students understand the skills they're building and lets them showcase their work in a portfolio that speaks directly to employers' needs.

3. Include deliverables that showcase accomplishments.

In today’s competitive job market, successful candidates must demonstrate their skills and how they’ve used them to address real-world problems. So career-minded students are looking to develop portfolios of their work from as many sources as possible, whether it's from school, internships, or previous work experience. The goal is to showcase themselves to future hiring managers. 

By including thoughtful deliverables in your project description, you can help students build their portfolios and stand out from the crowd. 

Let's return to that 'Create a social media strategy' project. Upon project completion, you could feature the student's Instagram posts and designs alongside engagement stats to detail the impact of their strategy. Not only would this provide you with metrics on the project's success, but it would also help the student showcase what their efforts achieved. 

4. Discuss mentorship opportunities.

Students embarking on their careers are eager for advice from professionals with industry experience. They are actively seeking information, ranging from “What does a typical day at the office look like?” to “What are my possible career paths?” 

You can set your organization apart from other employers by including a section in your project description describing student mentorship opportunities. From periodic meetings with their project manager to interactions with other staff members or clients, telling students what opportunities are available for them to gain insights and feedback will help you rise above the competition.

5. Feature social causes. 

Many Gen Z and Millennial students are passionate about social causes such as sustainability and equality. If your organization supports one of these causes, you can highlight it on Riipen to attract like-minded individuals. 

Our platform includes the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), 17 global objectives designed to tackle pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges and promote a more sustainable, equitable future. Consider highlighting any goals that align with your company in your project description—giving students a meaningful reason to engage with your work beyond just the project itself. 

Riipen makes it easy to attract and hire students at no cost, helping you fill your talent pipeline while giving students meaningful, real-world experience. By following these tips, you can create project descriptions that stand out and inspire students to get involved.

With Riipen’s platform, posting, managing, and collaborating on projects is seamless, and tools like project templates, skill suggestions, and project reviews ensure your descriptions meet best practices.

Start creating projects today and connect with motivated students ready to make an impact.

Schedule a demo today! 

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