University of Waterloo co-op student launches job site to help jobless students, grads beat 16.4 percent unemployment rate in Canada. Social networking is changing way young job seekers expect to find jobs online. Newly launched job site Buddingup makes it easy for students and grads to connect with employers and recruiters across Canada.

The numbers are discouraging. 16.4 percent student jobless rate; Statistics Canada’s lowest record since 1977. Enter University of Waterloo student Robin Speziale who launched Buddingup to help jobless students and recent grads beat unemployment. Buddingup.com helps students and grads network with recruiters, friend fellow job seekers, connect to campus recruitment programs, and search jobs all across Canada.

“The old job boards don’t address the new needs of young job seekers” states Robin Speziale, founder of Buddingup.com. “Students and grads are used to social networking like Facebook where they can easily connect with people, so when they search or apply for jobs on these old job boards, it’s like hitting a wall – theirs no connectivity between them and the employer” says Speziale.

In developing the idea for Buddingup, Speziale wanted to provide a better job search experience. Robin Speziale states “Buddingup is all about helping students and grads find a job – so we added more job search features than the average job board.”

– On the find recruiters section, students and grads can contact recruiters directly in order to network to their job. “Now if you want to follow up with the employer after applying to a job or ask a recruiter questions, you can” states Speziale.

– With Career Pages, students and grads can link directly to campus recruitment programs. “The campus recruitment pages are available in one click so that students and grads won’t have to spend their time navigating through hundreds of company websites” states Speziale.

– On the job search, students and grads can search new entry level jobs, co-op jobs and internships from across Canada. “The job search on Buddingup pulls jobs from all over the internet, so all jobs are in one spot” says Speziale.

– Students and grads can join Buddingup to network with each other and share job tips. “I added a social component so that students and grads could connect to the job seeker community in Canada, making the job search more fun” states Speziale.

– Students and grads can create a professional profile on Buddingup, including a brief description of their skills, eduation, qualities and post links to their blog, Twitter, and Facebook “so that they can better advertise to recruiters” says Speziale.

Can Robin Speziale help jobless students and grads beat the 16.4 percent student unemployment rate in Canada? Robin Speziale argues “at the end of the day, students and grads will be the ones who beat the high unemployment rate – I’m just giving them a better job search experience to help them find jobs.”