Two graduate students in UCLA’s Anderson School of Management have developed a networking app for professionals in Los Angeles metro. After realizing the extent to which successful networking yields career opportunities, Andrew Bremner and Brandon Kessler set out to build a mobile app that would simplify the networking process.
The young entrepreneurs did not always support mingling as a means of professional advancement. In fact, Bremner was once a networking skeptic.
“I thought the whole focus on networking was just an excuse for not working hard,” Bremner said in an interview with the Daily Bruin. His attitude changed, however, once he started at UCLA.
According to Bremner, “I would see people in one industry get interviews with prestigious companies in completely different industries because of their network through UCLA.”
Witnessing the effects of networking first hand turned Bremner into a believer, and he partnered with Kessler to create Out of Office, a platform designed to find networking events for young LA professionals.
Out of Office users can browse various local networking functions and register for those that seem especially promising. Though the app reveals the work affiliations of event attendees, their personal and demographic information remains protected.
The platform is not a typical networking resource, as event options are limited to those of a smaller, more intimate nature.
“Me personally, being an introvert, it’s harder for me to get out into those big events and break into a group and meet new people that way,” Kessler said. “So we determined that this was the best approach to high-quality networking.”
Out of Office became available for download at the beginning of August, 2017. The app is free, and, according to the website, its users work for companies the creators have listed in the top 25 for each major industry. For each networking opportunity, the app provides the time and date of the event, number of people attending, individual cost, and location.