With the COVID-19 pandemic starting its reign over 2020, I began to notice some extreme changes to my university community. Several of my peers, including my brother, lost their summer internships overnight. These internships were vital to compete in the modern job market upon graduation.
To combat the vast population of students without summer plans, I decided to make a matching agency, where students could get matched to remote summer jobs in education, where the demand was highest for temporary work. Many job offerings included student aids, instructional designers, and other administrators.
Yet, with the tides of the pandemic, my project began to waver. Competition from other sites began to eat at my audience. More schools began withdrawing positions due to overall budget cuts. By the start of the summer, I was backed into a corner.
But, I did not take this defeat lightly. I played all the right moves: negotiating with schools and companies, amassing a population of students, and trying to match people. And even after my project ended, I learned valuable lessons in management and entrepreneurship. Even though this was a "failed start-up" project, it still proved itself a deep and insightful experience.
