Democratizing the Nepotism Factor in Internships to Crack the “Experience Required” Paradox
The numbers paint a stark picture of today’s entry-level job market. Recent college graduates face a 5.3% unemployment rate with over 41% underemployed, working jobs that don’t require their degree. More than half of recent four-year college graduates remain underemployed a year after graduation, and 45% still don’t hold degree-requiring jobs a decade later.
Meanwhile, 83% of companies now use AI for resume screening, creating 250 applicants for every corporate job posting. The result? Less than 3% of resumes sent actually get interviews.
At the heart of this crisis lies a fundamental contradiction that every college student recognizes: internships require experience, but you can’t get experience without internships first.
The Hidden Role of Networks in Career Access
Tech is not my first career. My first job after college was in primetime television, a hard-to-get-into industry whose networking ethos was neatly summed up by a friend who told me, “It’s not who you know in this town. It’s who I know.” By then, I knew him, so I was “in,” as they say. If I could be honest about my path to a job in TV, though, it followed a well-worn but seldom-discussed process of working through family connections to find an internship. In other words, nepotism.
This uncomfortable truth underlies much of career access across industries. The students who land premium internships at major networks, investment banks, or tech companies either have inexplicably gotten experience, or they know someone. It’s a vicious cycle that leaves millions of college students sending hundreds of applications into what one recent graduate described as “a black hole.”
Why Traditional Solutions Fall Short
The career services industry has attempted various solutions to this access problem, but most platforms are built backwards. They’re designed for people who already have experience and established networks, exactly what current college students lack most.
LinkedIn and similar professional networks operate on a competition model where students make one-sided outreach attempts, often feeling like they’re bothering busy professionals. Traditional job boards become increasingly ineffective as they’re flooded with applications processed by AI screening systems that eliminate candidates before human eyes ever see their resumes.
Research shows that internships reduce the likelihood of underemployment by about 49%, yet securing that crucial first internship has become increasingly difficult as entry-level hiring has slowed to its most challenging pace in a decade for recent graduates.
The Emergence of Marketplace Solutions
A new category of career platforms is emerging that acknowledges an uncomfortable truth: career opportunities often flow through personal networks, and pretending otherwise hasn’t served students well.
As a technology analyst, I’ve been tracking early-stage startups in the career tech space for many years, but when I heard about Nepternship’s approach to “democratizing the nepotism internship,” I had to see what they were building. What I discovered was a platform that’s tackling one of the most frustrating problems in career development with a surprisingly straightforward solution.
The founders’ goal was as simple as possible: create a minimal input, seamless experience for users to secure an internship in an industry or company they are excited about.
Rather than another networking app, Nepternship operates as a transactional marketplace where students share access to their networks and communities to gain access to other networks they don’t normally have access to. Picture a student whose parents work at Goldman Sachs wanting a marketing internship at LVMH, while another student whose parent works in LVMH’s marketing department needs a finance internship. The platform facilitates this exchange.
Students submit an application with their background info, describe their ideal internship, and offer contacts or opportunities they’re willing to exchange with others. After that initial application, students receive curated pairing suggestions every Sunday from Nepternship’s team of experts who work to maximize value for each user.
Once paired, students can chat with one another through the platform to coordinate introductions and opportunity sharing. Users also have access to the discovery section that operates like a dating app for career opportunities. Students can browse available opportunities from other users’ public profiles, swiping through options that interest them.
The platform already hosts opportunities spanning tech roles at Google, finance positions at JP Morgan, and political roles in Texas cities. With coverage across all US schools and connections extending globally to Singapore, Dubai, London, and beyond, the network effects are compelling.
What Makes Marketplace Models Different
The transactional approach fundamentally changes the networking dynamic. Unlike traditional platforms where students compete for attention through one-sided outreach, marketplace models ensure everyone has something valuable to offer in exchange.
Users report several key differences in their experience with platforms like Nepternship:
- Mutual value clarity – Both parties immediately understand what they’re offering and seeking, unlike traditional networking where you’re asking for favors
- Reduced networking anxiety – No awkward cold outreach or wondering if you’re bothering someone, since both parties are seeking transactional opportunities
- Quality over quantity approach – Receiving a few highly relevant, curated matches feels more valuable than sending dozens of generic LinkedIn requests
- Effortless maintenance – After the initial application, users appreciate how the platform works in the background without requiring constant updates or activity
Broader Implications for Career Development
This marketplace approach to professional networking represents a fundamental shift from hoping for opportunities to actively creating them through structured collaboration. By formalizing what many students already do informally trading access to their professional networks these platforms are making network access fair game for everyone, not just those born into networks that align with their career interests.
The implications extend beyond individual students. Universities are beginning to explore how they might integrate these models into their career services, moving beyond traditional job fairs and resume workshops toward structured peer-to-peer network exchanges that leverage the diverse backgrounds of their entire student body.
Some platforms are already piloting partnerships with career centers, exploring how to formalize student-to-student opportunity sharing while maintaining the core principle of mutual exchange rather than one-sided requests.
Looking Forward
First internships often determine entire career trajectories. Once you’re established in your field, it’s incredibly hard to break into another industry. That’s why it’s crucial to get your foot in the door somewhere that truly excites you.
Industry experts note that successful people often benefited from early network access, gaining opportunities that set them up for careers in their areas of passion. Early adoption of these marketplace platforms shows surprising diversity different students, opportunities, locations, and backgrounds but with consistently high motivation levels among users.
For a generation facing unprecedented challenges in launching their careers, these transactional approaches to the experience paradox feel like exactly what this moment demands. Rather than leaving students to figure out networking on their own, platforms like Nepternship are creating structured opportunity trading that acknowledges career development is fundamentally relationship driven and works to make those relationships accessible to all students, not just those with existing connections.
Looking ahead, groups like Nepternship plan to partner with universities to formalize how colleges approach student networking, moving beyond traditional career services toward systematic peer-to-peer opportunity exchanges that leverage the full diversity of each campus.
The traditional job application process has become a numbers game with poor odds. Career tech that embraces marketplace dynamics offers a path forward, transforming how students access opportunities in an increasingly competitive landscape.
