Saverio and that Bridge Between Young Professionals and Companies
REFLECTING ON WHAT HE BELIEVES TO BE A MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES, THE BOCCONI ALUMNUS CREATED THE BRIDGE NETWORK TO FACILITATE CONTACT BETWEEN THE WORLD OF BUSINESS AND THOSE NAVIGATING THE JOB MARKETWhen Saverio Russo completed his Master in Science Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology (EMIT) at Bocconi in 2017, he didn’t plan to become an entrepreneur right away. He thought he needed some business experience first. But as soon as he started working in digital marketing for companies like Adobe and Avrios, he spotted a market opportunity because of what he calls a “misunderstanding” between companies looking for digital talent and young people seeking jobs.
“There is a difficulty in demonstrating one’s skills in the workplace because of a lot of stereotypes related to age, nationality and experience,” explains Saverio, 28. “Companies that aren’t familiar with the digital world don’t always trust the talent. And young people don’t always know how to navigate the job market.” Clearly, something was missing in the recruitment space. In 2018, he set up The Bridge Network with two colleagues.
The Bridge Network is a digital community where its over 80,000 members can chat, exchange ideas and advice, and network. It provides recruiting services to match talents and companies. For companies, it offers services like training and mentoring, organizing digital events, and acting as product ambassadors to review brands.
Lastly, The Bridge Network does e-training and issues certificates for digital skills – useful both for staying up to date in a fast-moving industry, and for junior profiles who want to demonstrate their skills regardless of their age.
“Our goal is to reduce the gap between the needs of digital revolution and people's skills, concretely helping them both in training and in navigating the labor market,” he explains. “We are trying to kill stereotypes and create trust between the company and the person.”
Being a Bocconi alumnus helped his career in two ways, says Saverio. The first is by providing general skills “to evaluate projects, evaluate ideas, convince investors, and how to understand competition.”
The second way was through real-life projects “to give you practical skills to start at least to think about what you want to do when you leave.”
“Today I can see that I have a better foundation,” he says. “It’s like starting the race 500 meters ahead of the starting line.”
Any advice for students at Bocconi? Get involved in associations and talk with professors, for starters.
“Try to exploit the career service to figure out what you want to do, so that when you select your courses you can really focus on what you need,” he says. “The more career research you do as a student, the better. Time is the most valuable resource.”
by Jennifer Clark
