Two Duke students have created a new program designed to better pair students with Duke alumni in their desired career fields.
Duke Intros uses an alumni database to connect students with alumni based on their specified career interests. Senior James Brock, who co-founded Duke Intros along with senior Braden Tierney, explained that the initiative differs from existing student-alumni connection programs like Duke Connect by offering more personal introductions and a manual selection process. Brock noted that the direct outreach approach has resulted in more follow-ups from both alumni and students.
“I was talking with a lot of my friends about the difficulties of the internship and job search," Brock said. "It seemed like so many of them knew what they needed to know to work in the jobs they wanted, but not who they needed to know to best place themselves to enter their fields of interest.”
Duke Intros matches students and alumni based on their ability to have substantive conversations about their career goals and shared professional interests, Brock said, and it does so without relying upon an online interface. Students are given suggestions on how to enter their professional fields, establish personal networks and work in the careers they are interested in.
Brock and Tierney came up with the idea for the program last April, then partnered with the Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network in August and started to introduce students and alumni in September.
"We are always looking to see if there is an appropriate balance between learning and skill development," said William Wright-Swadel, Fannie Mitchell executive director of the Career Center.
Duke Intros is collaborating with Alumni Affairs to reach hundreds of alumni who had previously signed up for other mentorship programs but did not find student matches. The program currently has 170 students and 100 alumni registered, and 55 introductions have been made so far with others being processed.
Jeremy Zaretzky, Trinity '00 and co-founder and president of the cloud-based company WireSpring Technologies, expressed enthusiasm about the program. He wrote in an email that he has already been matched up with a student and that he looks forward to mentoring more students in the future.
Duke Intros has helped relieve the stress and insecurity associated with the job application process for participating students, including senior Kate Abendroth.
"My alumni mentor helped me realize which skills are most valued in my intended field, something that I really appreciated when choosing my last set of courses at Duke," she wrote in an email.
Junior Henry Quach, a student who has used Duke Intros, said he appreciates the program's accessibility for first-generation college students.
"Being paired with a mentor through the Duke Intros program has helped me live a much more fulfilling Duke experience," Quach said. "Developing my mentorship relationship has really filled in the gap in practical professional knowledge and advice that I always felt I was missing out on as a first-generation college student."
Brock said that he anticipates reaching more alumni through Duke Intros in order to expand upon its initial success.
“I suspect from the 150,000 alumni that Duke has that there are even more alumni who would be interested in participating in this," he said. "Right now we are really looking for more students who are interested, because there are so many amazing alumni who are incredibly supportive and helpful and kind enough to offer their time to talk with students.”
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