Jumbos4Jumbos
UPDATE: This winter season, the Jumbos4Jumbos program will run from December 23rd, 2024 through January 17th, 2025. The deadline for alums to submit projects is December 2nd, and all students must be hired and updated in The Herd by December 20th. All projects should be virtual in order for all students to access them during the winter break.
During summer 2020, Tufts alums stepped up in a big way to help undergraduate students explore career paths and build skills with the first year of the Jumbos4Jumbos program. The result of these efforts became an initiative to offer short-term projects and gigs that allow students to gain experience through undertaking projects that provide experience and skills that can lead them to internships and full-time positions after graduation. Over the past few years, we have seen the value of building career readiness skills through project-based learning opportunities. Tufts now offers the projects year-round with our largest opportunities happening during the summer and winter breaks.
Can you or your organization offer a virtual experiential opportunity to help Tufts undergraduates have productive work experiences during their winter and summer breaks from classes? Whether it lasts two weeks or two months, if you have a virtual project/micro-internship/gig to offer, we hope you will consider posting it as part of our Jumbos4Jumbos program. Though we welcome projects to be submitted year-round, we do active campaigns to garner student interest during their winter break (December-February) and summer break (May-August).
When thinking about your project, please have the following information included in your student facing description:
- Full description of your opportunity to the best of your ability
- A little bit about the organization/opportunity
- Key roles/responsibilities
- Stipend offered (we recommend $15 per hour minimally for your project)
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Note: regardless of payment, international students are advised to seek work authorization for off-campus (including virtual) experiences.
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- Frequency of supervision
- Minimum qualifications (School, Year, Major)
- Any skills/competencies needed or previous experience
- Expected hours per week and expected duration of weeks
- We encourage you to review our walkthrough of a sample project with best practices here.
Interested in hosting a project for a current Tufts student this season? Here’s how:
Alums can access the Jumbos4Jumbos program via The Herd under the Projects section in order to manage their entire project process. This will make the process seamless for you and the students looking to apply and partake in your opportunities. Alums can self-manage the process via the portal and will be able to submit projects for review, manage their applicants and interviews, and close projects. On The Herd, you will have full autonomy to see student applications as they come in and decide who you want to reach out to for an interview and/or to offer them the project.
As a project owner, you will be responsible for reviewing candidates, setting up interviews, hiring, and informing your pool of applicants once the project has been filled. You will also be expected to submit the name of the student(s) you have selected once hiring is complete, and to update the “status” of your project as the program progresses (Pending Hire, Not Started, In Progress, Pending Review, Completed).
Please note if you are not a registered user of The Herd, you will be prompted to create an account and fill out your profile. For details on how to register go to the “Information for alumni section” of The Herd resources page.
What if I want to post an official internship on behalf of my organization?
If you are looking to hire a Tufts student for a longer term, more in-depth experience with your company, you may wish to post an official internship instead. Tufts University utilizes a recruiting database called Handshake, where employers can make a profile and post any job or internship openings for Tufts students and alums to view.
- If you do not already have a Handshake account, follow these instructions: How do I create a user account and join an existing company?
- If your company does not have an existing profile, here are some further instructions on how to create that profile: How do I create a company profile? Please let us know if you have any further questions about this process!
- Once you are registered, follow these instructions to post your opportunity: How do I post a job?
When posting jobs, be sure to indicate the class year(s) of students you are interested in hiring, application deadlines, and application instructions.
If you have questions, need clarification or have other issues please contact Susan Atkins, Associate Director, Employer Relations at susan.atkins@tufts.edu.
