One Penn grad’s new job — getting you a job.
2006 Wharton and College graduate Fredrik Maroe has launched Evisors foster conversation via phone and email between advice givers and advice seekers over a range of topics, including job opportunities.
As a Penn undergraduate from Norway with big dreams of becoming an investment banker, Maroe hoped to reach out to specifically Scandinavian investment bankers for career tips. Going into Career Services with hopes of catered advice, Maroe ultimately left feeling overwhelmed and disappointed.
“Career Services gave me a ring-binder with names of [Scandinavian] alumni and wished me good luck,” he said.
Maroe found cold-calling seasoned veterans in investment banking intimidating and fruitless.
“Career Services does a great job and has a very important role,” Maroe said. “The only issue is it can’t deliver on every student wish — they didn’t have enough staff to have a Scandinavian banker on staff for me to talk to. Not even Harvard Business School — with 40 career coaches on staff — can cover all the wants and needs of students.”
After attending Harvard Business School, Maroe and three friends had the idea to use the network of advisers and MBA candidates around them to “create an on-demand network of people for resumes, mock interviews and more, given by the people who actually do the interviewing at places like J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs,” he said.
Currently, Evisors has 1,000 career experts covering 2,000 different employers on their database. The fee for a session with an expert varies in price, but the usual rate is $50 for a 30 minute session.
“Let’s say you have an interview at General Mills,” Maroe explained. “You can find a General Mills employee and request a session with them. We then patch your phones together and you can share files before the meeting, but it’s up to you to set your own expectations.”
But Maroe explained how grateful he is for his experience with Penn’s Career Services, and is careful to distinguish Evisors as a complement, not a replacement, to the services already offered on campus. “I’ve learned a lot from my career office. I became a fiend at writing my resume from Career Services at Penn, and learned basic skills like the follow up and etiquette, which are all super important.”
Director of Career Services Patricia Rose said her office continually evaluates businesses like Maroe’s, and wishes Evisors well. However, “we have not recommended Evisors thus far, because many of the advisors are expensive, and tend to be MBA’s in a pretty narrow range of fields such as banking and consulting,” Rose wrote in an email. She added that Career Services is “fortunate to have a number of Penn alumni in PACNet who have volunteered to speak to Penn students for free.”
Wharton and College junior Julia Dworkin said she would definitely use Evisors. “The more resources available the better, especially in an environment like Penn.”
Yet, Dworkin explained that InterviewStream — a free, mock-interview service offered through Career Services wherein recorded customized interviews can be sent for review to anyone with an email — will be the source she uses to help her through On Campus Recruitment.
Some students, however, remain skeptical about the Evisors consulting service.
College senior Kelly Newman said that she would definitely use the service, depending on the price. “The cost is hugely important because Career Services provides very similar access and abilities to do that for free, or at least through my tuition,” she said.
Career Services offers a mock interview feature wherein recorded and customized interviews can be sent for review to anyone with an email address.
College junior Kira DiClemente felt similarly. She said, “I probably wouldn’t use it if you have to pay for it. There are plenty of people willing to talk and work with people who aspire to enter their work force … I can’t see myself paying for this same service that people do out of kindness.”
“Penn students need to be more realistic with their expectations of those services,” Newman added. “They are not there to get you a job — they are there to guide you to the right people and resources to help you find out what you want to do, how to do that and then how to help you get that job for yourself.”
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