Program Helps Minority Students Find Pathway to Business Success
INROADS information fair set for Jan. 14 at Duke
Friday, January 10, 2003
An information fair about the INROADS internship program, which prepares minority youth for corporate employment and community leadership, will be held at Duke on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
The session, titled "Attracting and Retaining your Future Workforce," will promote the goals of the INROADS program and encourage departments at Duke to participate. By sponsoring a college-age INROADS intern, departments gain a summer intern who has experience and professional training, said Vincent Bayyan, managing director of the Triangle affiliate of INROADS.
According to Bayyan, organizations that are serious about preparing their workforce don't wait until the student's senior year of college to recruit. They implement a pipeline strategy because in order to be successful they have to identify and prepare talent early, he said.
Clint Davidson, vice president of human resources at Duke, is a proponent of INROADS. "One of the initiatives Duke has embraced as part of our commitment to diversity is corporate sponsorship of the nationally acclaimed INROADS internship program," he said. "Bringing talented individuals to Duke is a plus for us. These students learn about the world of work and are able to grow and mature, learning various aspects of the work of their departments."
Duke began partnering with INROADS in 1998. Since then, eight interns have spent summers working in various Duke departments. Currently, four of the eight interns are full-time Duke employees.
Human resources representative Monica Ziegler said the program allows departments to hire an employee who they know and who has first-hand knowledge about the department and the organization. This ensures a better organizational "fit" and has been a win-win partnership in the past, she said.
Former INROADS participant Tanisa Little, now a staff accountant in Duke Financial Services, called the experience she gained through INROADS "second to none."
"I had the opportunity to learn how to use financial reporting systems that many of the top corporations, colleges and universities are using," she said. "That is something that you can't learn in a classroom."
INROADS also helps prepare interns through a series of professional training workshops. Each intern is also assigned an INROADS mentor who serves as the main contact for the student and employer.
"INROADS prepared me for Duke by providing me with a solid foundation of skills that I would need to survive the workforce," Little said. "The INROADS staff takes personal, professional and academic development very seriously."
The INROADS program was founded in 1970 by Frank C. Carr, who left an executive level position to develop a system that would increase the number of minorities in corporate management in the U.S. and help change the way minorities gained entry into the business world.
"Frank Carr was a diversity pioneer, before diversity was in vogue," Bayyan said. "He recognized and mined for talent throughout a number of different communities."
Little said INROADS interns graduating from college have an advantage over their classmates. "When you've been in school all of your life, it takes time to acclimate yourself to a work environment," Little said. "I had an easier time with that transition and an advantage over those in my age bracket who are entering the workforce without experience."
The INROADS information fair begins at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday in Von Canon Room A of the Bryan Center. For more information, contact Ziegler at 684-5681.
