Rutgers—Newark expands partnership with career development group

On September 9, Rutgers—Newark announced their expansion with Braven, a non-profit organization for student professional development, providing three times as many students with the resources to thrive in their career paths, according to a University article.

Toi Tyson, executive director and assistant dean of Career Resources and Exploration at Rutgers—Newark, and Samantha Crockett, executive director for Braven Newark, said that the University and nonprofit have a nine-year partnership, pre-enrolling traditional sophomore and transfer juniors in the program.

Other members of the Rutgers-Braven team, Anne Van Der Karr, executive director of Student Retention, and Anastasia Hardin, managing director of Rutgers—Newark and Braven, collaborated with Tyson and Crockett and sent a joint statement to further discuss the expansion of this program on Rutgers—Newark students. 

"By expanding its relationship with Braven and pre-enrolling most sophomore and transfer-juniors into the course, Rutgers—Newark hopes to remove barriers to access and increase the number of students who participate in the Fellowship," they said.

They said that Braven offers a three-credit accelerator course to assist students in their post-graduation plans, promoting quality job retention and graduate school admission. They said 96 percent of last year's graduating class were employed six months after graduation, and 68 percent were employed with sufficient full-time jobs.

"During the course, students work to identify personal leadership assets and key skills such as leadership, working in teams and operating and managing projects," they said. "Students create their personal narrative and connect their individual strengths with relevant career path opportunities."

They said fellows also build a roadmap for their careers that allows them to narrow down their tentative goals so they can get to where they want to be.

Alongside this course, they said that Braven partners with other Rutgers—Newark departments such as the Honors Living-Learning Community, BOLD Women's Leadership Network, the Academic Foundations Center and the Office of Career Resources and Exploration. A Capitol Hill Fellowship was recently added, where housing was provided to students interning in Washington, D.C.

Outside of Rutgers, they said Braven supports its fellows by providing a network of potential employers from Prudential Financial, Teach for America, McKinsey & Co., Barclays, Deloitte, Panasonic North American and others.

They also said there are three ways that Braven helps to assist and enhance student success: career design, career launch and a capstone challenge. These three areas allow fellows to make a career project plan, work with a cohort of students to achieve that plan through resume building and mock interviews and think with an employer about solutions to real-world issues.

"The Braven Accelerator course allows Rutgers—Newark students to tap into their potential by connecting students with career development tools and a supportive network," they said. "They are not just preparing for life after college — they are building it, brick by brick."

Daniel Ramge, a Rutgers—Newark School of Arts and Sciences senior, said after transferring from another university, he became a fellow and learned how to draft resumes, write cover letters and make elevator pitches about himself. He said Braven gave him a lot more confidence in entering the workforce, and the program showed him how to properly build a network.

Ramge said that the program was a great way to speak to students outside of his major and build connections with his cohort and his advisor. He was in the program when it was completely in-person, but now it has moved to a hybrid format.

"I would definitely recommend the program to other students, especially transfers, because it is a crash course in how to market yourself," he said.