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Tech Startup Wants to Make It Easier to Find Jobs After College

Co-founder John Knific (fifth from right) with the Wisr team.
getwisr.com
Co-founder John Knific (fifth from right) with the Wisr team.

A Cleveland-based tech startup wants to make it easier for students to find jobs after they graduate. Wisr is an online networking site that facilitates communication in academic and professional university communities. It helps students and alumni connect with career professionals. John Knific co-founded Wisr in 2016. He says he hopes to provide guidance to undergrads – something he felt he missed in school. “I literally got so far as getting accepted to (Case Western Reserve University's) medical school before I stopped and asked myself, ‘is this actually what I want to do in life?’ I ended up deferring for a year and in that time I started my first company, and I’ve never looked back.” Wisr works with university departments to launch the software and upload enrollment data to the program. It can also connect alumni to other alumni, students to students, and prospective students to current students. Wisr partners with four Ohio universities  (Case Western Reserve University, Cedarville University, Denison University, and Oberlin College) and the University of Chicago. Knific says the company hopes to expand nationwide.  

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Emma Keating is a junior journalism major with a minor in political science. Between working for the Kent Stater, TV2 and Cleveland Magazine, she has experience in newspaper, magazine, multimedia and broadcast journalism, though writing will always be her one true love. Keating hopes to use her journalism to give a voice to the voiceless in her future career, eventually moving to Washington, D.C.