Career Development
Career Development - MMS: Foundations of Business
Meet your co-pilot
You’ll be fully equipped to launch your career with Fuqua by your side. We help you assess your interests and skills, working closely with you to develop a tailored job search strategy. Providing both training and tools, we coach you to identify and explore opportunities with the organizations you’re interested in. You’ll use these skills and our resources not only for your first position after graduation, but throughout your career.
With an alumni network of 28,000+, our graduates are making a difference worldwide in a diverse set of organizations that range from global corporations to start-ups. Year after year, students connect with sought-after companies looking for professionals who have the ambition to make a difference.
The Career Management Center
The Career Management Center (CMC) helps you define your path and provides tools for a search strategy that teaches you how to connect with employers. With dedicated career coaches and exposure to different industries, you’ll have everything you need to identify and pursue the opportunities that fit your goals.
Your career management team includes coaches with industry specialties, programming staff who help you manage complex search techniques, and other specialists who help you identify options you may never have considered. You can attend interview workshops, resume coaching sessions, mock interviews, and industry panels. These events build on your Business Communications Courses and ensure you'll be prepared for the interview process.
Success Statistics
Career outcomes demonstrate our commitment to identifying and supporting future leaders, and we conduct research to understand how our programs impact graduates’ careers.
Download our Master of Management Studies Alumni Career Impact Study
Resources
Fuqua's professional career coaches help you find the career opportunities that fit your interests and skills. They meet with you one-on-one by appointment, either in person or via online video-conference, and you can also attend walk-up hours between classes to chat informally.
Additionally, alumni volunteers of Fuqua’s MBA and MMS programs work with MMS students one-on-one through our Career Advisor for MMS (CAM) program. These alumni share firsthand experiences, help you sharpen your resume and cover letter, and build your interviewing skills through mock interviews. You may request to work with alumni based on your chosen industry, adding another dimension of personalization.
We engage you in the job search process from orientation through graduation, with training and workshops that build on your Business Communications courses. Offerings are customized to meet your class’s needs and include:
Industry Panel Discussions
Panel discussions with alumni and corporate representatives give you an in-depth look at potential business careers.
Relationship Building
Networking is an essential professional skill, regardless of your career goals. Learn how to build and manage your network, request information, and get tips on informational interviewing.
Branding and Strategic Job Search Planning
Once you make a plan, a CMC coach will review it and help align your goals with effective actions.
Professional Correspondence and Resume Development
Learn useful guidelines for creating a professional cover letter and resume that best represent your passions and interests. You'll work one-on-one with a career coach to refine your resume, and you’ll exchange resumes with your classmates to gain additional feedback.
Interviewing
Learn how to respond to commonly asked behavioral and case questions, and practice one-on-one in mock interviews with recruiters and other business leaders.
On-site visits are an ideal way to get firsthand knowledge of a company or industry. Tour the workspace, meet employees and managers, and get a sense of how things are run. You'll learn about the industry, job functions, and current business challenges from company representatives and leaders, some of whom are Duke alumni.
MMS student clubs may organize corporate visits to organizations in cities like Atlanta, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Some of the organizations you might visit include:
- Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising, marketing, and public relations agency
- Bloomberg, a business and financial news conglomerate
- Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company
- ABB, a multinational company and leader in power and automation technologies
- Burt's Bees, a U.S.-based producer of environmentally friendly personal care products
- Cisco Systems, Inc., a global leader in internet networking
- Washington Nationals, a major league US baseball team
Career fairs expose you to various industries and provide opportunities for you to network with company representatives, recruiters, and potential employers.
Past career fairs have included:
- Sustainable Business Career Fair: Past attendees have included Deloitte, Cherokee Investment Fund, and the World Wildlife Fund.
- Duke Fall Career Fair: Employer representatives from sectors including business, technology, education, government, and nonprofits attend this fair. Past attendees have included Accenture, Apple, Bloomberg, GE, Intuit, Levi Strauss & Co., and General Motors.
- TechConnect: Past attendees have included Deutsche Bank, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, IBM, Northrop Grumman, Cisco, NVIDIA, and Medtronic.
- Nonprofit and Government Career Fair: Past attendees have included Big Brothers Big Sisters, Defense Intelligence Agency, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment America, United Planet, Goodwill Community Foundation, Institute for Sustainable Development, IRS, NARAL, The Nature Conservancy, Teach for America, and U.S. Department of State.
At Fuqua you can count on interacting with a variety of employers. Our corporate relations staff helps recruiters find and hire Fuqua students through on-campus events, interviews, and job postings. On-campus recruiting activities typically begin in September.
Recruiting events include panel discussions, recruiting receptions, office hours where you engage in casual interactions with business professionals, corporate presentations, interactive webinars, and company meet-and-greets.
The Ford Library
The staff at Duke’s Ford Library offers customized service and support to enhance your job-search efforts.
Career Services System
A one-stop shop for recruiting and career search information, CareerBridge is our internal career services website, where you can find job postings and contacts throughout the year.
CareerConnections
With CareerConnections, the undergraduate Duke job system, you can access and apply for even more positions.
Resume Database
Fuqua's digital resume database increases your chance of catching the eye of a headhunter; it’s searchable by different criteria to potential employers.
Online Mock Interviews
InterviewStream is an innovative learning tool that enhances your job interviewing skills by creating a compelling simulated interview experience.
ALUMNI DIRECTORY
As soon as you start the program you’ll have access to search Fuqua's database of 28,000+ alumni by program, graduation year, industry, company, job function, or geographic location. You'll also have access to Duke University’s full alumni database of 195,000+. Networking with alumni helps you learn more about the industries or organizations you are interested in.
To help you develop professional tools and skills, the student-run MMS Fellows and other clubs organize career-focused events for you to get firsthand advice on topics like job search tactics, effective networking, and career experience.
4,152
job opportunities last year across programs
How Fuqua Helped Me Figure Out My Career Path
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Explore
Gain insights into your skills, talents, and goals
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Prepare
Learn to position yourself to potential employers
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Implement
Navigate the recruiting process
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Get Support
Use alumni career services throughout your career
Business Communications Courses
Our specialized Business Communications I and II courses will guide you to market yourself successfully by developing your personal brand and how you portray and express yourself—how you tell your story.
These intensive courses focus on your resume, cover letter, and personal development, as well as company outreach, interviewing skills, professional communication techniques, and job search tools.
Success Statistics
We believe Fuqua’s career statistics are a testament to our record of identifying, nurturing, and supporting future leaders.
Download 2022-2023 MMS Employment Statistics
International Students
Nearly 40% of students across Fuqua's programs are non-U.S. citizens, coming from all parts of the world. Regardless of where you have work authorization, the CMC is your co-pilot in developing a job search strategy that’s right for you and providing resources you’ll need to find a great job.
Work Authorization
International students may be eligible for an internship or employment in the United States upon completion of the MMS: Foundations of Business program. MMS: FOB is a STEM-designated (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program, giving international students whose jobs meet certain requirements the opportunity to work in the U.S. for a total of 3 years (24 months of STEM OPT extension beyond the regular 12 month OPT). After the OPT period, you will need a company to sponsor you for a work-based visa, most typically the H-1B visa. For more information on the H-1B application process, visit the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
Your U.S. student visa status determines whether you are eligible for work on-campus during your ten month program, but most student visas restrict or prohibit working off-campus during the program.
Explore This Program
Program Format
Team up to get down to business.
Curriculum
Learn all the basics while building professional skills.
Experiential Learning
Explore how it’s done in the real world.
Career Development
Launch your career with us by your side.
Program Location
Discover Durham’s big-city options and small-town vibe.
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