Boston-area startups are eager to hire fresh graduates in tech fields, but locating those candidates isn't always the easiest task. Hungry for opportunities, many newly certified professionals set their sights on New York or Silicon Valley, and small companies with limited resources don't always find them in time.

That's where Bentley Business Analytics student Vadym Barda comes in. A young student from Ukraine who has already worked at one of the world's major producers of steel pipes — Interpipe Ukraine — Barda is now helping students find smaller tech ventures. Working with the nonprofit group hack/reduce, he hosted the first "Start It Up: Company Showcase for Students" to introduce young professionals to some of the areas up-and-coming startups.

Bring Your Talent, Meet the Companies

The idea is simple: Get tech-savvy students and budding tech companies in the same room for a meet and greet. This way, startups can find the candidates they need and students can find a handful of job prospects well before graduation. It's a mutually beneficial situation, but planning took a lot of work.

Barda would know. It was up to him to handle all the little details leading up to the event in February.

"I created the whole outline and concept of the event, planned its logistics and took care of promotion," Barda says. "We collaborated with the New England Venture Capital Association and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative — their effort played a great deal in increasing the attendance."

Eight startups and 60 students had the chance to interview one another, and that's exactly the type of experience many students say they want. For them, it means making a greater impression on a potential employer and standing out more than they would at a campus event that may attract hundreds of faces.

The first program is already being hailed as a success, as a follow-up event is being scheduled sometime in April.

Although Barda took the reigns in scheduling, logistics and everything in between, he gives a lot of credit to the other people from Bentley who helped along the way.

"My program director professor Mingfei Li, as well as Bentley Career Services included the event in their email newsletters. As for the students, they helped me to spread the word about on campus and shared their vision of what they would like to see and experience at the event. Students also helped with the social media campaign and design of promotional materials."

Benefits for Any Tech Student

While Barda is a tech student who's soon to be graduating himself, he actually won't be pursuing leads with startups.

"What interested me the most was the sense of responsibility — a sort of organizational power," Barda says. "It is a very inspirational role, and it also lets you be creative."

In his role, Barda concluded that he may be looking for a larger institution — one with a comprehensive analytics department like his former company Interpipe Ukraine. Those are the businesses that may benefit most from his skill set, and he may not have discovered this without stepping into a room full of startups beforehand. Those are the types of answers he originally sought and what may influence his job search in the long run.

"My original intent was to learn more about the internship and job opportunities at startups, and it was during the event itself that I discovered specifics of their talent needs and skill set required," Barda says.

Even so, Barda says he'll likely be attending more hack/reduce programs like this in the future.