Question

Riipen Case Study The Situation:

Riipen’s mission is to end the very real social problem of underemployment. Employment or income as the number 1 reason students list for choosing to attend post-secondary has grown from 50% to 90% since the year 2000 (Source: New America). Disturbingly, nearly 1/2 of university and college grads are underemployed in North America (Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York). We also know now that if a recent graduate starts their careers underemployed, they’re more likely to stay underemployed 5 years (67% likely) and 10 years (50% likely) later (Source: Strada Education, Burning Glass). Lack of relevant experience is listed as one of the top three reasons why recent grads are rejected from the candidate search. This means first jobs matter. We can no longer rely on a recent graduates first job as the landing pad where they gain the experience to launch their careers. Students need to gain relevant experience throughout their degree to set themselves up for success upon graduation and for the rest of their careers. Riipen aims to solve this problem by bringing the relevant work experience to students right in the classroom where it’s for course credit and doesn’t require them to put off their graduation by taking an internship or co-op. To date, Riipen has enabled 50,000 students at 150+ post-secondary institutions to partake in 1.5 million hours of applied learning with over 10,000 industry partners. Beyond experience, students’ need a way of connecting to the right potential employers and articulating their skills and experience to increase their chance of finding relevant employment. Currently, Riipen solves this challenge by offering a student portfolio where students can collect skill verifications, written recommendations and now even badges for their work that they can market to employers in their network to increase their chances of being hired. Now that we’ve built up global talent pool of industry-vetted student profiles, our organizations want the ability to search through the data base and invite students that have chosen to opt in to gain access to exclusive job opportunities only available to students the can demonstrate experience and skills through Riipen projects. The goal is to a) increase the number of channels that students and employers can connect to make better employment matches b) to increase revenue streams so that Riipen can invest in growing the student, employer, educator, ecosystem and increase access to project-based learning and better employment outcomes for students/companies.

The Ethical Dilemma:

As seen in the scenarios included in the link below, Riipen is debating whether to charge more for this service (let’s call it “Riipen.Recruiter” [play off of linkedin recruiter]) and increase revenue which in turn would allow Riipen to reach more students but may reduce the % of students that get hired through the app in the short term or whether to charge less for the Riipen.Recruiter so that more companies can access and a higher % of students using the platform get hired, however, growth is delayed and Riipen reaches fewer students in the longterm.

Question: You are the Director Operations and Client Success, develop your own personal position on what you think the company vision should be for the future; Eg. what kind of values and role do you see the firm playing in the next 5 to 10 years? and then answer the following questions as the director of operations and client success

2. Who are the stakeholders?
3. What is their influence? When preparing this section discuss the other strong, competing interpretations of the situation, who holds these interpretations and what their influence is over the decision. Discuss who’s support in the organization that you might need to obtain support for your recommendation and their influence over the decision.
4. Development of decision criteria and alternatives;
5. Justification of selected alternative. In steps 6 and 7 include identification of the short and long run revenues/costs and positive/negatives value outcomes of your proposal and discuss why it is better than competing proposals. This question is intended to address the “cash value of your proposal in experiential terms”.
6. Implementation: how would you orchestrated a process that can make the values you care about become the truth for your organization?

Answer 1

As the Director of Technology, you have to adjust the income and development that is required for the administration to develop, with the conceivable decline in arrangements sooner rather than later. The strategic the association is to end or possibly lessen the issue of joblessness of school and college, graduates. In any case, charging for the administration is probably going to dismiss a few clients, for example, broke understudies (who the administration is for) and perhaps even some little to medium organizations that utilization the administration since it is free/minimal effort and might reconsider that in the event that it adds to their contracting costs. Most, if not all, of the clients are probably going to be profoundly value touchy and this could unfavorably influence the working and the primary strategic the association. Be that as it may, you have to overhaul the stage to carry it fully informed regarding the most recent ones in the market, else it won't be serious and will probably not be favored by its clients. You may favor that the new assistance be chargeable so the administration can be made better than what it is currently, and to offer the best support of your clients.

1. The partners right now the understudies searching for work choices, and the organizations hoping to enlist new alumni. Both these gatherings should be considered really taking shape of any choices, what is beneficial for one may not really be useful for the other.

2. The understudies will need a minimal effort, ideally free, stage that they can use to discover work. As they are new alumni and jobless, their burning through potential is probably going to be nil and this will influence any cost that is applied to the administrations on this stage. The organizations then again, may have cash to spend, anyway are probably going to likewise favor an ease alternative and turn rather towards going through the cash required in employing experienced specialists. One purpose behind procuring graduates is that they can be contracted at lower compensations than experienced, and having a free stage make is an alluring alternative. Including a greater expense may dissuade a few organizations about enlisting graduates here. On the other hand, a few organization's may incline toward a paid assistance as then they can anticipate increasingly institutionalized help, updated innovation, client care choices, and so forth, and these could profit the alumni by making the administration stage itself better to use for everybody included. As Director of Technology, you realize that the best stage would require more cash, assets, and so on to construct and keep the up a serious stage that stands apart over others. To achieve this you will require the help of the business/enlisting associations gathering with the goal that they can bolster the extra expenses rather than jobless understudies.

3. Choice criteria and options -

a)will one or the two gatherings of partners be eager to retain an extra expense to find a new line of work/fill a post.

b)can the expense some way or another be achieved from the gathering that is the least value touchy?

c) can the expense be repossessed from the understudy sometime in the not too distant future once he/she gets an occupation through the stage?

d)can the employing associations be charged assuming/just on the off chance that they do fill a situation from the understudy pool on this stage, as a method for guaranteeing no inert expenses are gained, and they are charged distinctly in case of an effective enlistment?

e) is there another gathering that should alleviate these expenses - for example would universities be able to take the memberships for their understudies for a while? State 3 months, and so on directly after graduation so the understudy doesn't have any underlying expenses, and he/she might discover a situation inside the timeframe?

f)can the stage overhaul costs be secured somewhere else, for example, - govt activities that try to assist youth with discovering joblessness, IT firms that have corporate obligation exercises and may take a gander at giving/bringing down cost of required programming/equipment for a decent aim, associations with firms that may need a customary stream of understudies for enlist from this stage?
4. Chosen elective - The chief can contact the business/promoting group to see whether the options recorded above can be figured, it out. The executive ought to likewise take a gander at limiting expenses for the overhaul and taking a gander at a lower cost sticker price to be appended to the new help. Lower cost will probably not drive away such a large number of clients, and that would guarantee that the business can continue running and extending yet at a more slow pace. On the off chance that the understudy clients are charged an absolutely ostensible expense for what was a free help till a month ago, state $1 per month for the quarter/a half year, at that point $2 every month for the subsequent term, etc then most clients will probably take a membership with the expectation that they will get work in the near future. Shopper conclusion is continually hoping to limit costs. However, at a definitive result of progress, so an alternative to concede the membership cost or restitution when an employment proposition is made, may likewise be gotten well. Business could likewise be charged an ostensible expense to guarantee that the understudies don't bear the full weight of cost - organizations with under 10,000 workers could pay $1 every month, and between 10,000-50,000 $2 per month, etc. The negligible expense ought to hold most current clients and acquire all the more new clients, and higher volumes will get higher income. There can likewise be admonitions in the membership that once an understudy gets a new line of work, he/she will take care of double the membership sum for the following 1/2 years - $2/4 every month. In this manner making a further income stream from upbeat clients who have proceeded onward and are not as yet utilizing the stage.
5. The initial step to picking up acknowledgment for your thoughts is to guarantee that you comprehend them well and can explain and show them in verbal and composed structures. Verbal correspondence will permit you to feature your thoughts yet a first-rate plan that incorporates money related accomplishment also is what is required for any benefit acquiring organization. Make an introduction, or handouts and pass them around. Direct gatherings to get purchase ins from all gatherings of individuals with the goal that more comprehend what you need to do and will assist you with doing it. Having fundamental beliefs that resound with individuals - trust, trustworthiness, regard, mental fortitude and so forth remembered for your language will go far to having them be acknowledged.