Passion Is Behind Excelerate
There are plenty of interesting facts, thoughts, and stories behind Excelerate. The founder of Excelerate, Kaspar conducted a lot of research on his own before starting Excelerate. Get to know what he discovered.
Are you keen to know what accelerated Excelerate? If you haven’t already read the article about the mind behind Excelerate, who also goes by the name Kaspar Hansen, make sure to do that. Kaspar is crazy about the term passion (and thesis) and everything associated with that.
Before establishing Excelerate in July 2020, Kaspar had conducted a vast amount of research and found some pretty interesting statistics. These kick-started his thoughts behind Excelerate.
Kaspar wanted to create something that enabled as many people as possible to work with something they’re passionate about. Picking the students and the companies as target groups seemed like the most obvious choice to accomplish that. Combining passion and thesis writing was the way to go.
Facts about graduates
1 out of 6 graduates does not get a job a year after graduation.
1 out of 5 graduates, living in Copenhagen, occupies an under-qualified position.
It costs 500,000DKK to Danish companies to hire the wrong academic.
The Interesting Numbers
Kaspar studied and worked with project management for many years. So it was no surprise that he someday wanted to run his own company. Before doing so, he went through various reports, articles, and research papers on graduates, companies, the labor market, and everything in between. The passion enthusiast was determined that he wanted to create something new in that sphere.
According to Cepos, a Danish-political think tank, in Denmark, 1 out of 6 graduates does not get a job a year after graduation. Even if a student is lucky to land a job right after college/university, there is a big chance that the student will be overqualified.
Additionally, Kaspar found that 20% of all graduates, living in Copenhagen, occupies an under-qualified position.
Also, according to the report carried out by Randstad in 2015, it costs on average 500,000DKK to Danish companies to hire the wrong academic. Considering both recruitment costs and training. In addition, a company has to spend money and time on finding a replacement.
After stumbling over these shocking numbers, Kaspar continued his research because it sparked his curiosity and interest.
Reaching out to Students and Companies
Kaspar and his girlfriend, Mette, packed their bags with iPads and went to University of Copenhagen. Ready to conduct their own research. They needed answers from students concerning different matters on study life, thesis writing tips, and thesis collaborations. Luring the students with coffee and chocolate seemed appropriate. Like that, they received useful answers from just over 100 students. 95% of them said that if possible they would collaborate with a company on their thesis.
In addition, Kaspar reached out to 20 different kinds of companies and bureaus, all different in sizes. He asked them questions regarding their opinion on thesis collaborations with students. All companies and bureaus had a positive stand towards thesis collaborations. Some even stated that a thesis collaboration was the best way to check out if the student could be a potential hire. Specifically, after the collaboration has ended. Hence, the company gets to know the student. Additionally, they can check out whether the student fits into the company culture and the company system. And if they’ve the competencies needed to make a change in the company as well.
Moreover, Kaspar also contacted the biggest universities in Denmark. He asked them about the frequency of students, who collaborated with a company on their thesis. The amount of students who did that varied much. Depending on both the university in place, but also which program the students were a part of. Nevertheless, Kaspar figured that around 35-40% of Danish university students wrote their thesis in collaboration with a company. Therefore, he spotted a market where he could make a change. Simultaneously, making sure that students can combine their passion and thesis.
Passion is Key
Over the years, Kaspar also got to work with a lot of talented and interesting people, who suddenly lost their jobs. They were all people with a promising future. Unfortunately, they were part of companies that had to cut down expenses or had to close down completely. Kaspar watched how many of them were looking for other jobs. Also, how many of them had to take jobs that did not match their academic profile, nor competencies.
Kaspar had this one friend, who was specialized in working with leads on social media, who today manages a gas station. She had ambitions above that but had to take that specific job position out of necessity.
This is just one story out of many. It saded Kaspar that people had to take jobs out of necessity rather than following their real passions in life. This was another trigger for Kaspar. He was keen to establish a platform that could enable students to work with something they are truly passionate about.
At the same time, giving the students an opportunity to increase their job possibilities once becoming a graduate. To Kaspar, passion and thesis writing should go hand in hand.
If you want to know more about which benefits you can get by using Excelerate, both as a student and as a company, read about Excelerate and thesis collaborations.
