for employers to access cheap labor. And in this case, students actually have to pay to get in the door. But this isn’t an exploitative situation, and it differs from typical internships in several key respects, Hamilton says.
For starters, Koru’s programs are highly structured and focused on giving students relevant skills, on-the-job experience, mentorship, networking, and professional support. Koru’s own staff runs the programs, not host-company employees who may see interns as free labor for their low-value tasks. Koru participants shouldn’t expect to be fetching coffee and making photocopies.
And then there’s the recruitment aspect.
While internships can and routinely do turn into permanent jobs, Koru is taking a more deliberate approach. Its programs are designed to function in part as on-the-job interviews with the host companies, which are typically growing fast and scrambling to hire.
Hamilton says that through Koru, students have the chance to demonstrate over a period of days or weeks how they think and react to on-the-spot questioning, how well they work in teams, and how they present, among other things that are hard for employers to assess from a resume and half-hour interview.
“Employers are getting access to a channel of exceptional candidates,” she says.
Therein lies the other part of Koru’s business model. If an employer hires a Koru participant and retains them for a set period of time, Koru is paid a fee—some percentage of the employee’s salary—much like a recruiting firm is paid.
The focus initially is on fast-growing, innovative employers, which points toward the high tech sector and places where high-tech companies are concentrated. In addition to Zulily, Koru is working with Seattle-area employers including beauty brand Julep, REI, and pet insurance provider Trupanion.
Hamilton aspires to make the employer revenue stream large enough that the student fees could be reduced or eliminated, particularly for capable candidates who otherwise couldn’t afford the program.
Hamilton and her team have significant experience at this intersection of business, education, and technology. At Maveron, her focus included investments in for-profit education. She previously headed education strategy at Microsoft, in addition to her work at international education nonprofit World Learning. She also has a long history of startup experience, co-founding online retailer Onvia in 1997. Co-founder and “chief learning officer” Jarrett’s latest post was at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he headed higher education innovation.
“Education is the remaining trillion-dollar industry which has not been substantially transformed by technology or innovation,” Hamilton says, adding, “The question is, where do you start? The space between education and employment is a massive opportunity and both side struggle to fill it for a variety of reasons.”
So what’s with the name?
Koru is a Maori word, from the native population of New Zealand, that describes the spiral shape of a fern unfurling, while remaining the same at its core, as Hamilton puts it. She says it represents a principle Koru wants its students to embrace: Be your best self, but still be yourself.
“We’re most effective when we’re really our true selves,” she says.
