Home From College, a career platform for young professionals and college students looking for their first job or internship, announced Wednesday that it has raised $5.4 million in a seed round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures).
The new funding will be used to build out Gig, the platform's main service. It's a marketplace for companies to post job openings, from part-time and internship opportunities to one-off projects and more long-term roles. Home From College has job listings from hundreds of top brands, including Poppi, Aquaphor, Burt's Bees, Nivea, Urban Decay, Thrive Market, Peacock, Steve Madden, and more.
The Los Angeles-based startup was founded in 2021 by Julia Haber. Mr. WAYV founded WAYV, a marketing company that creates “brand experiences” like pop-up shops on college campuses. and Kai Zandvliet, former financial analyst at Sony Music Entertainment.
Home from College was born during an event hosted by WAYV. There, students expressed “fear of being unemployed upon graduation'' and “anxiety that they would lose their jobs.'' [college] It's aligned with what they actually wanted to do in life,” Haber told TechCrunch. Other problems include students not being able to find fun ways to earn extra money while in college, and not being eligible for jobs because their resumes are blank.
Home From College aims to disrupt the traditional job search for Gen Z, who are attracted to more flexible opportunities outside of a 9-to-5 job. According to Fiverr, some refer to Gen Z as the “freelance generation,” with 67% of Gen Zers accepting freelance work and 71% prioritizing jobs with flexible work hours. Gen Z is also seeking more creative roles, with many hoping to build careers in social media, entertainment, marketing, beauty, and fashion.
Mr. Haber wants Home From College to be a place for students to find jobs that fit their busy lifestyles and provide valuable experience related to their career paths and goals. So, rather than applying for an unpaid internship, you can take on a side job like being a social media ambassador or logo designer.
Image credit: Coming home from college
“I work full time, so [Home From College] as a way to get a side gig,” Sierra Estevez, a recent SUNY Oneonta graduate, told us. She says, “You can filter through the different gigs available to find opportunities that fit your time frame and schedule.”
Looking through the marketplace, the majority of listings are one-off events that primarily focus on content creation and product testing, which many brands offer to get feedback from young audiences. Compensation varies widely. For example, Nivea is currently offering him $500 to make two TikTok videos. Small businesses pay much less, with some offering as little as $15 to try a product and leave a review.
“All gigs at Home From College are paid… [it] helps get rid of [jobs] It can be disingenuous to students and it feels like their time is being manipulated because we know Gen Z cares about it a lot too… “We want to make sure that the opportunities for people who are in exchange are always realistically compensated in terms of value,” Haber said. She added that the team reviews all listings before publishing.
Image credit: Coming home from college
Another way Home From College caters to Gen Z and sets it apart from other career sites is its interview feature, where students can answer questions from real companies and post them on their profiles. For example, “If you had to describe your personal brand in one word, what would it be?” or “What role would it play in a group setting?”
Additionally, the platform allows students to showcase their individuality with fun cover designs for their profiles and colorful pages that explain their background, experience, and what they're looking for.
Students can also see the number of times companies have viewed their resume and the total number of views their profile receives on a weekly and monthly basis. Companies will see a similar dashboard to track the number of applicants under review and contracts signed.
Students can also receive messages from companies and have the opportunity to make connections with future employers.
“You can actually talk to different people from these brands, whereas other platforms I've tried were messages I put out and applications I sent into the abyss where I never got a response.” said Estevez. Added.
Home From College also competes with design tools like Canva with its latest feature, Resume Studio. The templates provided by Home From College are probably less advanced than his Canva templates, but they can serve as a starting point for students who have never created a professional resume before. Resume Builder is still in beta, so the selections may improve over time.
Image credit: Coming home from college
Home From College is free for students and has three subscription tiers for businesses: Starter ($99 per month), Growth Mode ($199 per month), and Enterprise (prices vary). Students are paid directly through Home From College's platform, and businesses are charged a 20% service fee on top of each invoice price.
The platform has over 100,000 users. Home from College has helped facilitate “thousands” of hires, Haber said.
Home From College is primarily aimed at people just starting their careers, but the company hopes to expand its product offering to people who have been with the company for less than 10 years.
The company previously raised $1.5 million from PEAK6 and angel investors.