Speed dating has nothing on five-minute networking

CLEVELAND -- They are some of the quickest and brightest minds in Cleveland.  On Thursday, they had just five minutes to sell themselves.

"This is a speed networking event," says Sonia Meritt, a first-year graduate student at Case Western Reserve University's Biomedical Engineering School.

"I've never done speed dating, so this should be interesting."

For five minutes apiece, current students mingled with grads from the school, already in the workplace.

"In five minutes, you can get more information across that you think," said senior Elise Snell.

"You can talk experience, family, school and random facts. It's a lot better to meet face-to-face than to send someone a random resume."

"Call it a web-based, Google-like approach to speed dating," said Geoffrey Thorpe, a 1979 graduate of the school.