FOR PARENTS WHO INVEST EARLY
A degree isn't enough to get a job anymore.
Whether it's an internship this year or the job after graduation, the students who get hired are the ones who started looking before they had to. Everyone else is still waiting for the apply button to work.
APPLICATIONS SENT
Hundreds
REPLIES
Almost none
54%
of U.S. workers say they landed their job through a personal connection, not a job posting
THE PART NOBODY EXPLAINS
The best jobs are filled by referral, not by application.
The right referral doesn't move your student to the top of the pile. It skips the pile entirely. Someone the hiring manager already trusts puts their own name next to your student's, and that's worth more than anything on a resume.
"By Thanksgiving, the offer usually goes to the student who built the right relationships, not the one holding the best resume."
THE SOLUTION
The right referral doesn't happen by accident. It's a specific method, and it has a name.
Pathfinder
™
BY INTERN SHERPA
Here's who's going to walk your student through it.
MEET YOUR GUIDE
Erik Miller
Founder, Intern Sherpa
Twenty years deciding who gets hired. Now I work for your student.
I sat on the other side of the hiring table. I know what makes a recruiter stop scrolling, and what actually gets someone hired, not what the career advice blogs say. Along the way, I built a network of helpers too, thousands of students I've hired, coached, and mentored, who are now the ones sitting on the other side of the hiring table themselves. Some of them will meet your student when the time is right.
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Your student is my client. You're investing in this, but for it to work, the trust has to belong to them. Everyone else in their life already has a role. Professors grade them. You worry about them, because you love them. I don't carry either of those. What your student tells me stays between us. I'm the one adult in their life whose only job is their career, and every couple of weeks, they write up where things stand and share it with you, on their own terms.
WHAT PARENTS SAY
"I hired Erik Miller to work with two of my daughters, both CS majors navigating the internship and job search for the first time... He showed them how to identify and connect with alumni on LinkedIn in a way that felt genuine rather than transactional... That alone changed how they approached every opportunity."
Ganz C.
"Erik spent many hours mentoring Kenneth on networking, personal skills, and career direction... leading to internship positions at ServiceNow and Slack Technology, and later, a SpaceX internship and career at SpaceX after graduating from Georgia Tech."
Ken C.
"I can't promise where those introductions lead, but when your student has earned it, someone on the other side of the table will already know their name."
HOW IT ACTUALLY WORKS
This is Pathfinder
™
1
2
3
4
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Curiosity — figure out what kind of work they'd actually enjoy getting paid for.
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Discovery — find the people already doing it, turn curiosity into a conversation.
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Real conversations — the right questions turn a coffee chat into a relationship.
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Earned referral — relationships open the door to asking for help. Not before. Then it starts again with the next one.
"Who should I talk to next?"
One question, asked every time. That's how a network builds itself.
None of this happens on its own. Every two weeks, we meet, review what got done, and set what's next. If your student gets stuck in between, I'm there for that too.
Most job searches skip straight to applying. Pathfinder teaches your student how to skip the pile entirely.
THE PROGRAM
Where it starts.
The Year
$12,000
Nine months · biweekly 1:1 sessions
Nine months of biweekly sessions, starting in the fall. Enough time to figure out what they want, build real relationships, and turn one into an opportunity.
THE FLAGSHIP
The Semester
$9,000
One Semester
One semester of biweekly sessions, fall or spring. I'll add sessions along the way if your student needs them. A real place to start if the full year isn't the right first step yet.
Start with a semester and want to continue? Upgrade to the full year within 30 days for $3,000.
I work directly with a small number of students by design, that's what makes the one-on-one depth possible. The Year is built to start in the fall, so the earlier we start, the more room there is to do it right.
SOME PERSPECTIVE
$12,000 sounds like a lot. It's a fraction of what four years of college alone cost.
You're already investing tens of thousands of dollars a year in your student's education. Here's how one year of Pathfinder compares to your four-year investment.
Private college, four years
$261,880
Public college, four years
$123,960
Pathfinder, one year
$12,000
Source: College Board, Trends in College Pricing, 2025-26.
A degree isn't enough to get a job anymore. It's what your student does now that matters more.
You don't have to figure this out alone, and neither does your student. Let's talk about where your student is, and how we get them there.
I read every submission myself, and you'll hear from me directly. Prefer to ask something first? Email me directly, erik@theinternsherpa.com.