Targum spotlight: Rutgers ALPFA makes space for future business professionals
The Rutgers Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) is an on-campus organization dedicated to providing students, particularly from the Latino community, with career development and professional networking opportunities in the business field.
Bestybell Sanchez, president of ALPFA and a Rutgers Business School senior, said the organization was established 15 years ago as a space for Latino students to navigate their shared challenges and connect over the link between their identities and professional goals.
She said that Latino students are the most likely ethnic group to be first-generation college students, and pursuing higher education for these students poses several difficulties that others may not experience, such as a lack of guidance with respect to career development.
"A lot of us have parents (that) encourage you, but they don’t really know how to help you or support you — or they don’t understand (our) different types of struggles," she said. "With the help of ALPFA, I think that professional development becomes easier because you’re seeing firsthand how other people have done it."
Sanchez said that ALPFA organizes weekly meetings to support the academic success of their members and cultivate a place for them to ask questions or discuss best practices about majors, careers, leadership and other related topics.
Additionally, ALPFA maintains an alumni mentorship program in which current members can receive insights and one-on-one advice from experienced professionals and help start their own career journeys, she said.
"It's empowering to see that the cycle continues, and the next generations (of ALPFA) are going to be just as taken care of as they are now," she said. "It just creates more generational knowledge and wealth to be passed along."
On a personal level, Sanchez said that she felt isolated when she first transferred from the School of Arts and Sciences to Rutgers Business School and observed an absence of Latino representation in her business classes, but she found a supportive community of like-minded individuals by joining ALPFA.
"It was (at ALPFA) that made me realize that everyone here is doing it for something bigger than themselves," she said. "They’re doing it for their community. They’re doing it for all the identities they represent. And I think (that) really empowered me (to push) myself out of my comfort zone."
Regarding the events ALPFA hosts each semester, Jose Polanco, vice president of ALPFA and a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said the organization conducts resume workshops, interview preparation sessions and company recruiting events.
He said members also travel to annual national conferences to interact with ALPFA chapters from other colleges and network with major companies, including Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and KPMG.
Polanco said that ALPFA's overall support system and leadership from upper-level students assist members in developing these professional skills for their internship or job search, and he personally secured a summer internship through those events and offerings.
Considering diversity through a corporate lens, he said that he agrees with the sentiment that ALPFA is helping build pipelines for underrepresented student populations into careers and companies that seek to grow their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
"Last year, we had about 30 internships and full-time (positions) planted between our members," he said. "So, I would definitely love to see that number grow, ... When students come into college, they already know that there’s a place for them here at Rutgers."
