Short-Term Projects, Long-Term Impact: Inside Tufts’ Career-Readiness Program

In the spring semester of her first year at Tufts, senior Anika Agarwal began a career-exploration experience working on marketing strategy for a small jewelry company. She was surprised when her mentor at the company said to her, "I want this to be a learning experience for you, so tell me what you're curious about."

"Hearing that completely changed how I approached the project," Agarwal says. "Instead of waiting for instructions, I designed a plan myself, from researching advertising budgets to proposing an SEO-driven strategy. The trust and encouragement my mentor gave me allowed me a real sense of ownership and confidence in my ideas."

The project was one of three that Agarwal, A26, an economics major, completed through Jumbos4Jumbos, an initiative run by the Tufts Career Center that connects students with alumni for short-term, real-world experiences. In the course of a few months, she helped the jewelry company develop a new online presence, performed a search engine optimization analysis for the branding firm Revel & Awe, and managed digital outreach for the Iowa Figure Skating Company.

"These projects gave me my first real exposure to a marketing role," Agarwal says. "I realized I genuinely enjoy the blend of creativity and strategy in marketing, which led me to take a summer marketing internship before my junior year. That internship confirmed that I love the field. My experiences through Jumbos4Jumbos really set the foundation for the career I want to pursue."

Connecting to the World of Work

The origins of Jumbos4Jumbos lie in the COVID-19 pandemic, when traditional internships for students suddenly disappeared. "Members of the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Council came to the Tufts Career Center and asked how they could help," says Nicole Anderson, senior associate director for alumni career services and mentoring. "Our response was simple: any kind of real-world experience for students."

Working together, the trustees, the Alumni Council and the Career Center created what would become Jumbos4Jumbos-a way for undergraduate students to explore career paths, develop skills, and receive mentorship through virtual, short-term, project-based experiences. Now in its sixth year, the program has become a signature offering of the Career Center and a cornerstone of Tufts' approach to career readiness.

Jointly run by the employer relations team and the alumni career services and mentoring team in Tufts Career Center, the program is open to all Tufts undergraduates. Engagements can range from just a few hours of project-based work to 12-week collaborations. Projects take place during the summer and winter breaks (although some students and alumni do continue to work together beyond the original scope). Opportunities include both paid and unpaid roles in fields such as marketing, public health, engineering, nonprofit management, and the arts.

Anderson says the range of experiences reflects two top priorities for the Tufts Career Center: mentoring and experiential education. "And the two are deeply connected," she says. "One of the best outcomes of a mentoring relationship is a connection to the world of work and the possibility of an internship, project, or something experiential."

Alumni: Need an Extra Hand?

She and her team encourage students to pursue a variety of experiences that mimic real-world professional challenges, whether short-term projects, research collaborations, or volunteer roles that allow them to apply classroom learning in a professional context.

"A single internship is not the most important item on a résumé," Anderson explains. "We're helping students build a portfolio of experiences that show initiative, adaptability, and curiosity. Jumbos4Jumbos embodies that philosophy."

To the Benefit of All

Jonathan Kaplan, A96, director of the university's Office of the Boards of Advisors, believes that the program benefits the alumni offering roles as much as it does the students undertaking them. Kaplan, who volunteers with a nonprofit theater, hired two undergraduates through Jumbos4Jumbos to help the theater with marketing and fundraising. One student researched digital marketing strategies for community theaters; the other evaluated grant opportunities and assisted with the planning for future funding proposals.

"Jumbos4Jumbos helped us both," says Kaplan. "I could offer meaningful projects with knowledgeable oversight and direction, and the students got to do something real and tangible." One student's work produced immediate results, according to Kaplan: ticket sales for that season's production were significantly higher than in the previous year. And both students took their new skills with them into graduate school and their professional pursuits, he notes.

Ethan Kiczek, E92, a software designer who has hired and mentored three students through the program, saw mutual benefit, too. One of his mentees remotely designed a new app for his company-a complex task even for seasoned professionals, notes Kiczek.

"The student I worked with made a great effort to understand the audience before producing any design prototypes," he says. "That discipline really paid off with a professional-looking design and an intuitive user experience. I doubt our team would have achieved similar results without her help."

He adds that it was the opportunity to serve as a mentor that motivated his decision to participate in the program. "I've benefited greatly from mentorship throughout my career," he says. "Having the chance to give back at this stage of my life was a big draw for me."

From Agarwal's perspective, the program's unique blend of learning and mentorship benefits participants far beyond a single experience. The skills she developed during her participation in the program-search engine optimization, communication, time management, and client relations-proved useful across every part of her Tufts experience, she explains. "My projects helped me think about audience behavior and business strategy in my economics and finance classes," she says. "And they gave me concrete examples to draw from in interviews and internships."

A Turning Point for Students

For Kiczek, the program demonstrates how the Tufts network can empower students early in their professional journeys. "It's easy for students to think professional experience happens later, after graduation," he says. "This program changes that. It gives them the chance to apply what they're learning in class to something real, with support from someone who's been in their shoes."

For everyone involved, Jumbos4Jumbos is more than a résumé-builder; it's a bridge between learning and doing, and between generations of Jumbos who believe in lifting one another up.

"The program was a turning point for me," Agarwal says. "It gave me hands-on experience at a time when I was still figuring out what I wanted to do, and it reminded me how valuable exploration is early on in college. Ultimately, it helped me realize that I could combine creativity with my analytical background in economics and finance."

As Kaplan puts it, "When you see students make a real impact-and realize, for example, that their efforts can change outcomes for a community organization-that's what this is all about."

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