CoopRatings.com -- By Interns, For Interns

Posted by Aaron.Gerry on May 12th, 2009

The premiere student's guide to internships in Boston.

Providing a community for peer-reviewed internships, CoopRatings.com is a quickly becoming the one-stop internship resource for students in the Boston area.
Background
 

Students in the business program at Northeastern University, Vipul Lakhi, class of 2009, and Punit Shah, class of 2010, have garnered credentials as serial entrepreneurs.  Learning from previous ventures such as Boston BookWorks, the duo has cultivated a positive entrepreneurial mindset.  Their determination and hard work culminated in a gem as CoopRatings.com was launched in July of 2008. 

Vipul and Punit will be the first to point out that the strength of the company is the result of a group effort.  Consisting of a core group of six members, Coopratings was spearheaded by leaders Punit, Vipul and Jason Morris.  Collectively, the team noticed a disconnect between the university administration and the student body and set out to bridge the gap. 

For those unfamiliar with the Northeastern Cooperative Education system (CO-OP), the school provides an opportunity for students to work up to three, six-month periods at paid internships of their choosing.  The school is affiliated with organizations such as Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, Raytheon, and Johnson & Johnson, to name a few. 

The idea

Currently, the school does not offer a service to connect prospective interns with former CO-OP's.  This is where CoopRatings comes in.  The Web site offers a venue where students can read and write reviews of past CO-OP experiences.  The benefits are obvious for the students. Several of their most common questions are answered:

- What will the six-month internship really be like?

- What were the best and/or worst aspects of the position?

- What is the pay?

- Will a lot of experience be gained from the job?

How it works

The site is built around maneuverability and ease of use.  With the site's growth dependent on user-generated content, the team instinctively made the internship review process as user friendly as possible.  For example, the front page offers two options, "Rate a Co-op" and a "Browse co-ops."

From here, searching potential employers is as simple as typing the name into the search bar and browsing the results.  Amassing a comprehensive list of former internships, the site boasts well over 500 ratings. 

As a reviewer, the site requires a quick user registration and then presents a very straight forward review layout.  Don't worry, you can even leave reviews anonymous.  The site itself is aesthetically uncomplicated and provides easy navigation throughout.

 
Values

CoopRatings was founded on the notion that students should help students.  The thinking being a student who writes a review today helps current students as well as future students. It's goodwill all around.  However, this has also proved to be the point of most contention. 

Luckily, Vipul, Punit and Jason have creative minds to collaborate with at company meetings.  One of the most striking characteristics of CoopRatings is the eagerness to tackle problems together.  The group holds weekly round-table discussions, where everyone is on equal footing and titles are thrown out the window.  This "open air" policy has produced many of the site's best features and is reminiscent of the goal of the site itself.  As CoopRatings matures, the team will look for substantial growth in the number of reviews, thanks in large part to increased community involvement and new marketing undertakings.

The goal of CoopRatings is to "build a successful career-oriented peer-to-peer student community," notes Morris.  In achieving this aim, the group has never deviated from its business model; building their review base first, then leveraging the extensive list and user base to monetize the site.  Money will most likely come through advertising, but the team has other inventive idea's as well.  To date, the plan has been to focus exclusively on the NU community, effectively handling the small-scale before spreading to other schools.  Look for CoopRatings to continue to build on its' success and to expand to future markets in the Boston community in the near future.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

Subscribe

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Relevant Articles