Meet Hannan Hussain | CEO and Founder at Intern Guys

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hannan Hussain and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hannan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Intern Guys was born out of my own struggles to land an internship as a software engineering student. In early 2020, I found myself spending months applying and interviewing for internships in tech companies, until I finally got one. But It was a frustrating and disheartening experience, and it made me realize that the current job/internship platforms weren’t making the process any easier. I saw a need to revamp the internship process, which was still stuck in the past, with students making resumes by themselves, scrolling through hundreds of internship postings for months, until they either get an internship or simply – give up. Hence I felt there was a need to re-imagine the current internship solution, create a new way for students to find internships, one that is less painful, less stressful, less time-consuming while at the same time efficient.

So, one day I said to myself, “enough is enough dude” and decided to take matters into my own hands. I went on a mission to interview hundreds of students and find out what their struggles were. And let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience and it became crystal clear. Students needed a platform to reinvent the internship cycle, reinvent how they make resumes, reinvent how they find internships, reinvent how they apply and hence I noticed a clear need to make a sole internship platform that caters explicitly to students and speakes the language of students: fast, fun, millennial-friendly and did I mention fast?!

And hence one night it came to me in a dream (or was it a daydream?), I always wanted to have my own business, make a difference to society, provide a solution and here I found a gap in the market that has been long overdue for an update – so I said, “let’s do it!” and boom Intern Guys was born! Intern Guys is an IT all-in-solution for internships and we provide students with the tools to search, apply and manage their internships in an easier, faster and smarter manner!

So far running this startup has been a crazy ride, full of challenges and obstacles. But, there’s nothing quite the feeling of making a difference in someone’s life, and that’s exactly what we do here at Intern Guys. Hearing from students who’ve found their dream internship because of us, and how we’ve impacted their professional journey is the ultimate reward. It’s a satisfaction that’s out of this world, like finding the last piece of pizza in the fridge after a long day!

What should our readers know about your business?
Our business, Intern Guys, is a one-stop-shop for all things internships. We aim to make the process of finding, applying, and managing internships as easy and stress-free as possible for college students. We’re like the “Uber of internships” but instead of cars, we’re delivering students to their dream internships!

One of the things that sets us apart from other internship platforms is our process to get an internship. We aim to keep things as light as possible on the student’s side and do a lot of heavy lifting on our side. For example, we don’t ask students to create their own resumes, instead we help them identify their skills, experience and using our machine learning algorithms suggest a resume template that best showcases the student. Hence, with Intern Guys making a resume is possibly in 2 minutes! Our personalized matching algorithm is another way we stand out. Traditional platforms require students to spend hours searching for positions that fit their skills and interests. This leads to a wastage of time and many times students are applying to positions that they do not match with the most. We instead use a student’s profile to recommend positions that best match their skills and interests while taking into account recruiters’ requirements for their interns, hence students get a perfect middle ground of what they want and what they can get. It’s like having your own personal intern-matchmaker and officially with our search no need to search!

We’re extremely proud of the impact we’ve had on students’ professional journeys so far, and we’re excited about continuing to grow and improve our platform to better serve our users. We’ve helped thousands of students land their dream internships, and we’re just getting started!

Getting to where we are today was definitely not a walk in the park. We faced challenges such as market discovery, building a team, marketing but we overcame them through hard work, determination, and a bit of creativity. Some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way include the importance of market research, the value of a strong team, and the importance of persistence. We learned that the key to success is to never give up, no matter how many rejection emails you get. And another key is you need creativity within a business – traditional problems need traditional fixing but modern problems need unique fixing.

We want the world to know that we are dedicated to helping students achieve their career goals and that we’re constantly striving to improve and innovate our platform to better serve our users. We’re here to make the internship process easier and more accessible for all students and to help them find their dream internships. So, if you’re looking for an internship, come check us out at internguys.com!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Here’s an itinerary:

1) Hike through the majestic redwood forest in Muir Woods or Henry Cowell and dinner at Falafel Drive-In – San Jose
2) Explore the Stanford University campus, visit Apple’s Infinity Loop, and have dinner at Zareen’s, a popular Pakistani restaurant in Palo Alto
3) Take a tour of Alcatraz Island, Fishermans Wharf, California Academy of Science, and dinner at Shalimar
4) Day trip to carmel by the sea and cruise along Big Sur, preferably in a convertible
5) Take a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, visit Sausalito, and do the earthquake trail at Point Reyes with Boba at Purple Kow, SF
6) Take a day trip to Yosemite National Park
7) Bay area is heavy on nature so Lake Tahoe is a must!

These are just a few highlights, but the Bay Area has countless other fun, interesting, and exciting places to check out.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Absolutely, there are a few people, groups, and organizations that I would like to give a shoutout to for their support and help in getting Intern Guys off the ground. Firstly, I would like to give a big shoutout to UC Irvine and the Antrepreneur center (Thanks, Jaune Odombrown!), my alma mater, for providing me with the knowledge, financial backing and resources to pursue my dreams and kick off Intern Guys. Secondly, I would like to thank my friends and family for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout the entire process. They were always there to lend a listening ear, offer advice, and cheer me on like a sports team. I would also like to give a special shoutout to the team at Intern Guys, who have been working tirelessly to make this platform a reality. Their dedication, hard work, and commitment have been instrumental in bringing Intern Guys to where it is today.

Lastly, I would like to thank all the students who have used our platform and given us the opportunity to help them find their dream internship, you guys are the reason we do what we do! And you know what they say, “Behind every successful Intern is a great Intern Guys team!”

Website: https://www.internguys.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/internguys/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intern-guys/ (Intern Guys) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannan-hussain-71332b148/ (Hannan)

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@internguys (Tiktok) | contact@internguys.com (our email)