Transcript:

Raksha Doddabele:

Welcome to the Gear Up podcast hosted by the Career Center. My name is Raksha Doddabele, and I'm here with a former Duke alum who is going to talk to us about his experiences. So I'll let you go ahead and introduce yourself.

Serges Himbaza:

Hi, my name is Serges, and I am class of 2017. I'm an entrepreneur, both in software development as well as in entertainment.

Raksha Doddabele:

That's awesome. Thank you so much for being with us here today. So first I want to just hear a little bit about what you currently do and how you found your way into your current role, if you could tell us about that?

Serges Himbaza:

I started off at Microsoft and loved that experience. I saw an opportunity to have a little bit more impact running my own company, so started a software development company as well as also an entertainment company, just because all my time at Duke, I'd always loved telling stories, loved creating. So I run those two companies.

On the software side, we build solutions for businesses, so in insurance, things like that. And then on the entertainment side, we primarily work with really incredible top-40 artists, as well as we run a film project. We partner with film production companies, and we essentially run those projects. So I guess I'm a film producer as well in there somewhere.

Raksha Doddabele:

Wow.

Serges Himbaza:

So we have a couple of projects that just came out in 2020, and we have a few more products coming out in 2021 as well.

Raksha Doddabele:

That's amazing. I feel like that's a kind of a dream of a lot of Duke students, to make their way as an entrepreneur, but obviously it's not always an easy path.

Serges Himbaza:

No.

Raksha Doddabele:

So it'd be great if you could just talk a bit about the process of starting your own companies and the challenges that came with that.

Serges Himbaza:

Yeah. So there's no perfect way to do it. At least, I don't know of a perfect way to do it. I actually started helping clients in my off hours while I was still at work. I kind of pretty quickly, as I was working at the company, I knew that I wanted to at least try starting my own company. So anytime I had free time, things like that, was really dedicated towards building up a portfolio of clients.

And then there's a point at which you have enough clients, there's enough work, that it makes sense to shift over, and you're able to build a team. I think one of the things that I did initially was I wanted to build the team first, and not necessarily have the work kind of lead that process. So yeah, built the team, got the clients, and then after that, moved on.

And secretly throughout that whole process, was connecting with the film community out here in Dallas and just loving the work that's being put out, supporting projects that I could. And then that's when the entertainment side started really taking fruition. I saw a chance to really build something that's unique in this community, and that's just the opportunity for talented filmmakers to be able tell their stories, and specifically underrepresented filmmakers to be able to tell their stories.

So those things, strangely enough, happened simultaneously, and I've kind of been balancing and trying to make sure that both get to see the light of day. So it's been a lot of fun.

Raksha Doddabele:

So how did your career path and aspirations change throughout your four years at Duke? Because clearly you started off going into Microsoft, but you really pivoted into owning your own companies now.

Serges Himbaza:

Yeah. Strangely enough, I was an econ major, which meant that I either wanted to be a consultant or a banker. It's kind of the stereotypical role. And really just talking with people about what banking looked like, I was like, "That's not for me. That's not interesting to me."

So sort of thought about consulting as well, but I was just more interested in, honestly, the possibilities in technology, so that's where I went initiall

Transcript:

Kira:

Hi there. You're listening to GEAR UP, the Duke Career Center's student-produced podcast, showcasing stories and advice for campus and beyond. My name is Kira, and today we have two guests with us to talk about ways to design your best Duke experience. Hello and welcome.

Katherine Jo:

Hi, Kira. I'm Katherine Jo. I am an academic guide here at Duke. I'm a member of a new team within Duke's Undergraduate Education, and our team provides comprehensive academic support within the residence halls on West Campus. I attended Harvard as an undergrad, and I studied sociology there.

Audrey Fenske:

Hi, my name is Audrey Fenske. I'm a program assistant with the Duke University Career Center. I'm also a Duke alum. I graduated in 2009, and I graduated with Bachelor's in dance and also in psychology.

Kira:

So cool. I'm really excited to hear your guys' stories today. So, Katherine, could you tell me a little bit more about what exactly the academic guides do in practice?

Katherine Jo:

Sure. Overall we are there to help students pursue their academic excellence within the context of their overall wellbeing. But what that kind of means is that when we meet with students, we're really there to find out sort of what do they care about, what are their interests, what are they struggling with, and help them navigate the various decisions and challenges they face at Duke and to connect them with the resources that are at the University that are going to help them thrive while they're there. So, additionally, because we're assigned to specific residential halls, we're also there to help build an overall learning community that is going to support them in navigating their time at Duke and helping them thrive.

Kira:

Absolutely. Wow. That sounds so important. I'm excited that returning to campus, I hopefully can be an attendee at some of these events.

Katherine Jo:

We'd love to have you.

Kira:

Audrey, you had mentioned as an alum of Duke and the undergraduate experience, thinking back to your first year ... We're hoping that this episode is especially geared towards first-year students ... What do you wish that you had savored more during your first year of experience?

Audrey Fenske:

That's a really good question. The fact that all first-year students come to Duke from all over the world and they all go through some of the same experiences just right from the get-go all together. I'm thinking specifically about orientation week, which I know looks a little different in 2020, but there's still a great deal of programs and new information and things like that that first-year students all kind of get thrown into all together.

So everybody's learning all together and growing all together. That coupled with just the thrill of being in college for the first time and riding the bus and introducing yourself to everybody you can on the bus and trying to meet as many people as you can and have as many new experiences as possible. I think at Duke, I think it's uniquely wonderful because Duke really knows that all first-year students are going through that same experience all together, and they tailor so much programming and so many events for first-year students. I loved taking advantage of all those as a student and as I've watched that kind of first-year programming grow throughout the years, there's even more for students now to take advantage of. So, oh, I wish I could go back to that time and introduce myself to 100 more people than what I did. But it was still so exciting at the time.

Kira:

I think the people are so special. Ultimately that's what, when you leave campus, that's what sticks around. It's not the building, it's not being in class, it's the people and the knowledge that you get to take on.

So with all of that, especially for first-year students coming on campus and having so many different opportunities thrown at them and available, which is in my opinion ultimately a blessing but sometimes in the moment can feel like

Listen to Duke alum Serges Himbaza T'17 talk about his experiences.

Listen to Duke Academic Guide Katherine Jo and Duke alum Audrey Fenske T'09 talk about ways to design your best Duke experience.

Listen to Alicia talk about the summer internship process for first years and sophomores.

Transcript:

Stephanie: You're listening to Gear Up Season 2, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today, we're talking to Alicia, who works at first years and sophomores in the Career Center.

Alicia: Sure. Hi. My name is Alicia Rhodes and I am a career adviser on the undergraduate team at the Career Center and my portfolio area is first years and sophomores.

Stephanie: So kind of like just diving into that. So generally speaking, for first years and sophomores, how early do you kind of advise students to start looking for opportunities for the upcoming summer?

Alicia: Sure. So what we advise students to become engaged with the career center as early as possible. So that could be within their first semester of their second semester. Um just because we want them to know all of the opportunities that are available to them and know how the Career Center may be of service to them. As far as first year's looking for summer opportunities, we tend to kind of frame it as a summer experience. And we talk to them about all the things that they could do throughout the summer, from taking summer courses to working a summer job, to possibly an internship or any of the additional summer programs that Duke may hold.

Stephanie: Yeah, I think that's a really important distinction because I mean, I remember during my first year and even my second year, I did not have it really figured out and then didn't specify yet kind of what I wanted out of my summer.

Stephanie: So for students that are kind of in that position and don't really know all the different opportunities, whether that be an internship or working as a camp counselor or whatever it is. Where do you usually point them as a good resources for seeing all of the opportunities that are available?

Alicia: Sure.

Alicia: So I would typically, if they come in for an appointment or now if they do Zoom appointment with one of us, or attend drop ins, also via Zoom, then we would probably suggest that they take a look at some of the summer programs that Duke typically offers. We also have CareerConnections with it, which is the Career Center's online portal and it houses the jobs the internship database. So we would suggest taking a look at there also taking a look into Duke list.

Alicia: And then to be honest, we really, we really promote reaching out to alums as well, because those could be really good connections that they can start establishing and building those relationships. But also, it helps with the exploration of just trying to figure out what they may like or what they may not like and explore in different industries. I would also suggest joining or attending some of our employer events.

Alicia: So we have an event specifically for first year called first contact and is help through I guess a webinar. And even before everything went to remote access that was being held through webinar so students can attend and they can listen to employers talk about what they do, how they got to where they are. And it's a really good way for students as explore. We also have something similar to that called sophomore conversations for sophomores. And it's more designed to be a more, I guess, intimate session because it's usually capped off or like maybe four or five students.

Stephanie: Wow, yeah.

Stephanie: So, you know, kind of like, let's say, students identify things that they may be interested in for the summer. And a lot of those, you know, whether it be an internship or a summer job or even DukeEngage something like that, require an interview process. And, so specifically for first and second year students who might not have a lot of experience under their belt, you know, maybe they did things in high school, but they haven't really had the chance to do things in college that

Today we're talking to Meredith, who specializes in business at the Career Center.

Transcript:

Stephanie You're listening to Gear Up season two, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today we're talking to Meredith, who specializes in business at the Career Center.

Meredith Sure, hi, I'm Meredith McCook. I'm one of the undergraduate counselors within the Career Center. I work specifically with all undergraduate students, no matter of industry interest or major or anything like that. But I also serve more of a specialty area within business. So business overall finance consulting and marketing more specifically. But what that really means is that I'm in touch with a lot of employers in that range as well as student clubs and organizations, but still cross-training for all industries and such.

Stephanie Yeah. So I guess kind of focusing on business for the most definitely feel free to bring in some, you know, other tips or experiences that you have.

Stephanie How early do you usually start advising students to start looking for summer opportunities for the upcoming summer?

Meredith So really, it depends on the industry that you're looking at to a certain degree and sometimes even more specifically the company that you're looking at. So if we're talking business at large and kind of marketing as well, you're really looking at potentially with the full year of depending on when a company is hiring.

Meredith So there will be some maybe companies that are more we'll know larger companies hiring a couple hundred to thousands of summer interns that may recruit earlier because that process takes a little bit longer and they need the time and they need to go to those career fairs, things like that, because they have a lot of roles to fill. So you might see some of them early in the year in the fall, while then also you're going to see a lot of companies hiring in the spring, but they may have a few, fewer openings. So maybe it is a small local company that has the room for two interns total or one that has maybe 20. At that point, they're not necessarily going to do the national recruiting that a really large company would do, but they're still amazing opportunities. It's just the recruitment looks different. So for my students who are looking at businesses overall, so business operations kind of is corporate finance, marketing, advertising, different things like that really can run the range of the year. So having a strategy and knowing how you're wanting to go about it, who you kind of want to work with is really helpful in that point. Or just even being open to discovering who you want to work with throughout that process. Whereas with consulting students and those interested primarily in consulting, much of the recruitment is going to be in the fall. There are a few boutique firms that will still hire in the spring, but the majority of recruitment is going to be around like late, early to mid in the fall for that internship recruiting process again for these companies that are hiring. And what I would call a cohort model, they're bringing on a lot of interns at the exact same time nationally. Whereas those that are a little bit smaller don't have as many openings. You might see a little bit later in the fall, too, also in the spring semester and then for finance. And it's much more year specific. So with the other industries, I wouldn't really put it into a year category. But for finance, we're really seeing our sophomore year, spring semester and summer before junior year is the primary recruiting for internships.

Meredith That is for the junior summer internship. And so within finance, that junior summer internship. And when I say finance, let me clarify that, I mean much more specifically investment banking and sales and trading.

Meredith And those two divisions are the ones that

Listen to Laura talk about the summer internship processes for grad students in a range of industries.

Transcript:

Stephanie:

Hi there. You're listening to Gear Up Season 2, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's on career advisers and talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie. And today, we're talking to Laura, who advises graduate students on a range of industries.

Laura:

Sure. I am Laura Coutts. I am a graduate career advisor in the Career Center. And I work specifically with students in the arts, humanities, environment, policy, and divinity. I have a broad portfolio.

Stephanie:

That is a lot. So generally speaking and then within each of those areas, how early do you usually advise students to start looking for summer opportunities?

Laura:

Sure. I think it really depends on industry. I would say for those students who are interested in nonprofit, the smaller companies, really, you can look in the spring. But if you're looking more for larger organizations, finance, business, things like that, a lot of that hiring timeline is going to be in the fall. So that'll probably be September, October. The first few months of a school year, you would start looking for an internship that would start that next summer.

Stephanie:

And where do you usually draw on students to find those internships? Like what kind of resources are available to them?

Laura:

Yeah, a lot of that, again, depends on industry. So thinking about some of our environment students, there are some really great opportunities there. Stand back, which is also run through the Nicholas School. Thinking about some of our other students. A lot of the time, too. I'll talk to them about, you know, what are second, third year students? What have they been up to and how have they found their internships? Because especially I think about like the arts and humanities, a lot of students are networking for smaller organizations. And so there's not necessarily one central receptacle.

Laura:

If you're going to this Web site, you will find everything listed, a lot of it in the nonprofit arts humanities is much more kind of networking based or conversations with people you're interested in.

Stephanie:

So do you usually connect students to older students or is there like good networking platforms?

Laura:

Yeah, I mean, part of it, too, is just asking people, do you know any second your Masters students? And they're like, oh, yeah, I live with one, right? Or they interact with each other regularly, but they don't think of each other as resources. And so part of it, we just talk about what their social circles look like and who else kind of what are their activities they do around Duke. And so sometimes those are really good opportunities. Otherwise sometimes we'll just do a really quick LinkedIn search, right? Or Duke alumni network, kind of. Who else has been in your shoes before? How do they navigate this situation?

Stephanie:

Yeah. So let's say students have kind of figured out a number of internships opportunities that they want to apply to. They're preparing for an interview process. Now, what kind of preparation or advice you get to students of things to really be looking to showcase during their interview process, depending upon whatever industry they're going to differentiate?

Laura:

Sure. You know, I think the biggest thing in interviews is really about self-awareness, right. It's not always about knowing the specific information that you need for that industry or they're not looking for you to be an expert. They will train you in any internship you have. I always joke around with people and say, like every job I've ever had, I've been trained for except for babysitting. And I probably should have had better training for that. So I would say even if you're at an internship and they ask you or an interview and they ask you like you know about the specific information, I say it's less about knowing the answer an

Listen to Stacia talk about the summer internship process for Masters students in STEM fields. Transcript: Stephanie: Hi there. You're listening to Gear Up season two, where we bring you the Duke Career Center's own career advisers to talk about a variety a summer internship experiences. My name's Stephanie and today, we're talking to Stacia, who advises graduate students in various science areas. Stacia: I am Stacia Solomon and I am one of the graduate student advisors here in the Career Center. I have a few areas of outreach that I specifically oversee, and those include social sciences, engineering and physical sciences, and computational in quantitative areas. Stephanie: So kind of generally speaking, across all those areas, how early would you say that graduate students that you work with should really start looking for summer internships? Stacia: So my initial answer to that is it really depends on the area. There are some programs that we have here at Duke which require their students to have an internship. Those are Masters students in particular during their first summer following their first academic year. So for those students and particularly those are students in the mid areas, in some of the stat students as well, they need to start looking around, you know, in the fall for the next summer. So it's a pretty, you know, really quick turnaround for those students in a lot of those opportunities are taken away pretty quickly. But for other areas, it really just depends on the discipline and the rhythm. Some of them follow more of the professional year and pattern in terms of internships, like there may be more internships opportunities around a certain conference or things that may happen at different other pivotal times during the year. So it really, really depends on the discipline. But I would definitely say, you know, by February, March, pretty much true for all disciplines, you should have your internship site set or be narrowing down what your final selections are. Stephanie: And so in terms of kind of finding those opportunities or knowing where to look for them, what kind of resources do you usually recommend to students for identifying those. Stacia: Yeah. So a lot of the research that we use is typically the same as, you know, identifying that final job. So we use a lot of the bigger or we refer a lot of the bigger job posting areas such as LinkedIn and umm Indeed, The Muse is also one of the job boards just for it in general that we would refer to students. And there may be some more specific ones depending on the discipline in the industry that might get more specific for some of those areas. But we definitely encourage students to have their online presence in tact. In this day and age, that's something that's really, really critical and really important for students. And we also encourage them to personalize their documents as much as well to help them to stand out for those different internship opportunities. Stephanie: So, I mean, this is a very broad question for so much of the different industries that you work with specifically. But in terms of kind of like skills or qualities that students who are going into these industries should be trying to showcase when they're beginning the interview process, you know what kind of advice do you usually give to students or what should they expect to be asked about, in the interview process? Stacia: Yes, so hard skills are really big deal, especially for some of the more technical areas, like really knowing those programing languages and different statistical software packages and all of those hard skills are methods of how to research a certain thing are is really, really critical. And I think a lot of the students know that. And as Duke students, they're getting that. That's just comes with the Duke package. But some of the things that the students may not really think about that they really need is those interpersonal skills that I think in

Listen to Monique talk about the summer internship process from an employer perspective.

Transcript:

Stephanie: Hi there, you're listening to Gear Up Season 2 where we bring you the Duke Career Centers own career advisers to talk about a variety of summer internship experiences. My name is Stephanie and today were talking to Monique, who serves as a liaison with employers for the Career Center.

Monique: Hi I'm Monique Turrentine and I focus on building relationships with new employers that recruit at Duke. I am on the Employer Relations team in the Career Center.

Stephanie: So from your perspective of working on the employer relations team, what do the employees that you work with usually recommend for students when they should start applying to summer internships? Generally speaking.

Monique: Good question. I would say that when I talk with employers, they mention that students can apply from beginning of summer all the way up until March or April. And that's coming from employers that I work with across various spectrums, you know, around the world. They have anything from positions in finance to positions in science. But I would say to narrow that down, most industries are looking for students to apply for their internships during the latter half of summer. So anytime between that late August all the way up until the latter half of October or early part of November is when a majority of employers are looking. And the smaller companies, though, they're the ones that leave their opportunities open or wait until I would say the February timeframe to start posting their internships. So I think students can, if they're looking for the opportunity, go on out to that website and go and see if it's available and go ahead and apply.

Stephanie: That's a great transition. to my next question, which is what kind of resources, where are employers posting these opportunities? Where should students be looking to find and connect with employers?

Monique: Initially, the students should look on the employer's website. Their website would give the most updated information, the most detailed information about what the internship will consist of, as well as the deadline's and the materials that the students need to use to actually apply. The next place, of course, will be the CareerConnections, the site that we have through the Duke Career Center, and there are other resources around campus from the Duke I&E newsletter to, DEMAN resources to the Alumni Job Board. And when students work with their own departments and faculty members, I'm sure they have a listserves as well. But the first place would be to check that company's website. Of course, if you don't see it in CareerConnections and then check CareerConnections.

Stephanie: Yeah, definitely. So this is, you know. I'm sure differs so much industry to industry. But are there any specific skills or qualities that you feel that employers voice to you they're looking for in students when starting the interview process?

Monique: Of course. Employers are always looking for students to be well-rounded. And of course, that's when you all have Duke students are very well known for being so diverse that having a diverse skill set, so, they're looking for the students to have to be well-rounded in their ability to think on the spot, and their ability to use their critical thinking skills to work collaboratively, collaboratively, and to work as a team member to utilize the creativity and innovative skill sets as well to be problem solvers. Oh, my gosh. I probably say that the most because employers, regardless of the position that you're gonna be in. Employers are gonna want you to be able to address the issue that's going on within the task that you're doing. Be able to solve that problem, be able to offer recommendations and other ideas and to be able to communicate that. So you have to be able to communicate well, rather, whether in written communication or verbal communication, t

Employer Perspective -Monique Turrentine: Listen to Monique, Assistant Director on the Employer Relations team talk about the summer internship process from an employer perspective.