Authored By Chloé Morrison
Two local entrepreneurs have created an online platform aimed at making it easier for international students to get visas and work experience in the United States. Watcep connects young talent with Chattanooga employers through the J-1 visa exchange visitor program. The company helps streamline the process and connect applicants with local employers, benefiting both the visitor and the area businesses, Watcep co-founder Sean Slaughter said. “What we want to do is bring uniformity [to the application process],” Slaughter said. Slaughter’s co-founder Eray Tavukcu came to the United States in 2010 through a J-1 visa exchange visitor program and saw the process could be improved. Applicants must take an array of steps to be considered, including finding a sponsor, who is responsible for selecting and guiding participants. Watcep aims to make the process smoother by handling details like sponsorship, job placement and other business details the program requires. How it works Potential customers know of the visa program and are finding the local company through Google search and other online resources. They can reach out to Watcep and get any questions they have answered. Then they sign up, create a profile and schedule an online interview with Slaughter. All that is free. Slaughter vets the candidates and gets to know them so he can connect them with local opportunities. He looks for the candidates to communicate well in English and looks for congenial personality traits. From there, Slaughter tells the candidate the next steps they would need to take to get approved. The customer can then choose to work with Watcep to complete the process if they want. There are three different prices for the exchange students depending on how long they stay, but Slaughter said his structure is more uniform than going through the government. “We are fully funded by the participants,” he said. Since we do this job placement, we are an online job agency when you boil it down.” For businesses Slaughter also works with businesses who want to work with exchange students and make diverse hires, he said. “Our approach to them is, ‘What’s your need with hiring?’” he said. “I try to solve a problem for them.” Several local businesses—Vision Hospitality Group, Mad Priest Coffee Roasters and Office Furniture Warehouse—have already signed on to work with Watcep. Mad Priest founder Michael Rice said he’s excited to work with Watcep because it will help support his company’s commitment to diversity. “They are local and small and they can actually focus on the students and streamline the bureaucracy,” he said. “Their true intention is to focus on the students.”