The MBA Insider podcast is for career-driven professionals who want career guidance and practical advice about how an MBA can help advance your career,
During each episode, Al Dea interviews former and current MBA students, MBA experts and leaders to learn about their career stories, MBA experience, business school school lessons to help aspiring, current and former MBAs like you to stand out, level up, and grow a successful career.
In this episode, Al Dea walks through some of the key trends and insights from this summer's MBA Internship season, including some of the common themes and challenges. Al also walks through a checklist of things to do in order to assess your internship and use it to inform your decisions and actions during your second year of business school.
Julia Silbergeld (Haas, ‘15) cultivated meaningful relationships with her classmates during her time at business school. During this interview, Silbergeld talked about building relationships and community in business school, as well as what it takes to maintain those bonds after school ends. She also talked about two community and relationship building initiatives she has launched, first, Hinge IRL, and her latest, The Quarantine Love Project, a virtual matchmaking and dating service. For more c...
After a busy and hectic spring and summer of MBA Admissions, Linda Abraham (CEO, Accepted.com) takes some time to step away from advising her clients and joins me to talk about MBA Admissions. During this interview, we talk about what happened with MBA admissions during COVID-19, the implications of the GMAT moving forward, and some of Linda’s predictions for the upcoming MBA Admissions Cycle for 2020-2021.
Amy Hernadez Turcios ( HBS, ‘20) grew up in a low-income neighborhood and was the first in her family to go to college. Growing up, she didn’t know anyone who worked on Wall Street, went to Wharton, or attended HBS, but despite those odds, found her way to all three of those places. Now an HBS Graduate, Amy is off to her post-MBA career in management consulting as well as kicking off her own venture, Haz Ruido. During this interview, Amy shared her personal story and journey to Wall Street, and ...
Nikita Mitchell (Haas, ‘15) has spent her professional career thinking about the role companies and leaders play in creating responsible and equitable companies and communities. In this episode, Mitchell spoke about the intersection of business and society, how companies are doing well (and poorly) with their responses to social issues, and the responsibility that MBA students have in addressing these issues, both at their school and in their future.
Prior to attending Kellogg, Francis McManus worked as a middle school teacher, and management consultant, which spawned a curiosity and interest in learning from and with diverse groups of people. Getting his MBA at Kellogg allowed him to build meaningful relationships with his classmates and peers, and shaped his thoughts on his career and worldview. During this episode, I spoke to Francis about how people in his life as well as MBA experience impacted his thinking and worldview and his thought...
Business school can be a transformative experience. But what happens after you graduate with your MBA? During this interview, Jessi Gordon (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘16) shares her story about transitioning to life after getting her MBA, and talks about the highs and lows and the most important lessons she's learned that have helped her grow in her post-MBA life.
After spending six years in the non-profit sector, Joey Parker (Haas, '21) enrolled in UC-Berkeley (Haas) to transition to a new career. During this episode, Joey talks about his experience with MBA internship recruiting for both management consulting and technology roles, the highs and hows of navigating internship recruiting, and his overall reflections and learnings from his first year MBA internship search. Show Notes: https://mbaschooled.com/2020/07/14/episode-25-navigating-the-first-ye...
Before attending business school, Alli Jaeggi (USC Marshall, ‘20) was a teacher looking to transition into a business role. After exploration and reflection, she decided to pursue a career in Product Marketing in the technology industry. In this episode, Jaeggi walks through how she chose product marketing, how she navigated her career search, and the steps she took to move from Teacher to Product Marketer.
During her time at Wharton, Ashley Wells (WG, ‘16) took on stretch opportunities, and built confidence that allowed her to thrive in her post-MBA career. In this episode, Wells talks about how her MBA experience at Wharton helped her embrace risk and appreciate uncertainty, and shared her advice on how to remain confident during ambiguous times, and embrace the unexpected twists and turns of careers and life.
Jasmine Ako (Yale SOM, ‘19) entered business school with a desire to pivot into a career in management consulting. Now a management consultant, Ako took some time to share with us her journey to management consulting, what the first-year management consulting recruiting process is like, and her advice to incoming MBA students who are interested in careers in management consulting.
Triston Francis (HBS, ‘19) entered Harvard Business School with the intention of growing and developing as a leader. He got the chance to do this through many avenues, most notably in serving as Co-President of the HBS Student Association. During this interview, Triston shares his journey to HBS, the highs and lows of the MBA experience, and the lessons he learned from serving as Co-President of the HBS Student Association.
In this podcast episode, I'm sharing a webinar I did about how to prepare the MBA experience. During this webinar, 3 current students shared their experience with the first semester of business school, their tips for preparing for the MBA, and guidance and advice for navigating the virtual MBA experience.
MBA students and student organizations are responding in a variety of ways against racial injustice and institutionalized violence toward Black communities. During this episode, I spoke with three Black MBA student leaders who shared their experience leading student organizations to navigate these responses. During the podcast, we spoke in detail about how they led their student organization’s response, the importance of action by MBA student leaders, and the challenges and opportunities for gro...
After working in politics, Ben Leiner (Darden, 19) came to Darden to pursue a career in technology. At Darden, he realized he wanted to pursue a career in product marketing, and landed an internship and full-time offer in this field, but not without challenges. Ben talks about how he found his interest in product marketing, how his job search went viral on LinkedIn, and his advice for how MBA students can focus on their strengths to find opportunities and navigate challenging job searches....
During his time at business school at UNC Kenan-Flagler, Ben Thayer made the most of his MBA experience. Whether it was learning entirely new topics and skillsets in the classroom, transitioning into a career in management consulting, or actively engaging in student activities and leadership positions, Thayer thoughtfully engaged and immersed himself in the MBA experience. In this wide ranging interview, Thayer shares a detailed account of his journey while at UNC, some of the challenges and dif...
In this episode, I’m joined by two of my fellow UNC Kenan-Flagler Class of 2015 classmates Blake Koch and Kerry Rigley to talk about life five years after graduating from Business School. This spring, Kerry, Blake and I and many of our classmates were slated to be celebrating our 5-year MBA reunion a few weeks ago in Chapel Hill, but like all in-person events that plan was put on hold. Instead, Blake, Kerry and I reflected upon our own journeys after graduating with our degree, what we've le...
As an HR Leader at a fast-growing tech company, and author of the career development book Not Your Parents Workplace, Nathan Tanner knows a thing or two about career development. After starting his career in 2008 and having three jobs in one year, Tanner learned the importance of being adaptable and flexible while also embracing each job by making the most of the experience, no matter how challenging or exciting it was. In this episode, Nathan shares his MBA journey, how business school helped h...
MBA Internships are right around the corner, but they’ll certainly look and feel a little bit different this year. In this episode, Tony Morash (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘16) joins Al to talk about tips, best practices and general advice for MBA Internships. During the second part of this two part Podcast, Al and Tony talk about tips to be successful, how MBA students can prepare, and guidance around communicating and navigating a virtual MBA Internship....
MBA Internships are right around the corner, but they’ll certainly look and feel a little bit different this year. In this episode, Tony Morash (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘16) joins Al to talk about tips, best practices and general advice for MBA Internships. During the first part of this two pert Podcast, Al and Tony talk about tips to be successful, how MBA students can prepare, and guidance around communicating and navigating a virtual MBA Internship...
During his time at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Adam Miller has done his best to align his interests and goals to the activities and experiences he chose to participate in. In this interview, Miller speaks to why he chose to come to business school, some of his career and recruiting journey, and some of the highlights of his MBA experience, including launching his very own podcast. Miller also talks in depth about some of the honest challenges or difficult aspects of bus...
John Huang (Ross, ‘15) has been an MBA graduate for five years as of this May. In this time he’s worked for the largest company in the world, a 10 person startup, and 3 other companies in between. Regardless of his career steps, he’s always found ways to pursue roles that allowed him to use his skills and experiences, as well as to find and position himself for future opportunities for growth. In this podcast, John shares his journey to business school, how his time at Ross helped him build care...
Product Marketing is becoming a popular career choice for many professionals including aspiring and current MBA students. In this episode, I'm joined by Shyna Zhang, a former Product Marketer at Microsoft and Marketo, and current Product Marketing Consultant and Advisor. During our conversation, Shyna breaks down what Product Marketing is, some of the important skills Product Marketers have, and her advice and guidance to professionals on how they can build the skills needed to become a Prod...
While many MBA students were on spring break, most MBA programs across the world made a fast pivot to a virtual MBA environment as the world grappled with COVID-19. Students were forced to think and work differently in this new environment, in order to achieve their goals and make the most of their MBA experience. In this episode, four current MBA students from NYU Stern, UC Berkeley, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and Michigan Ross share what it's like to attend business school in a virtual environment...
After serving in the Merchant Marines and founding his own entrepreneurial venture, Ravi Maniar (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘16) moved from India to North Carolina to pursue his MBA. There were many adjustments Maniar had to make during the transition, and one of the biggest was around networking. In this podcast, Maniar shares how he flipped the switch on networking and how it helped him build relationships, land career opportunities, and strengthen his overall MBA experience....
Jeremy Schifeling is a former Kindergarten teacher, an MBA Alum of the University of Michigan (Ross) Product Marketer, and Founder of BreakInto Tech. Throughout his career, Schifeling went from not knowing much about networking to working at LinkedIn, and now runs an online course that teaches job seekers how to successfully navigate a career search using LinkedIn. He is an expert in career development and job searching and in this episode, shared his advice for how MBA students can effectively ...
In this episode, I have Adam Miller, a 2nd-Year MBA Student at the University of Virginia (Darden). Initially I had set out to talk to Adam about some of the stories he shared in MBA Insider, but given the uncertainty that exists in the world I decided to chat with Adam about how he was doing, what he was experiencing, and his general outlook of navigating business school during these uncertain times. http://www.mbaschooled.com/podcast for show notes...
As the world economy moves towards a potential recession, there is a lot of uncertainty and concern in the job and labor market. In this episode I talk through some suggestions on how to manage the stress of a job search during tumultuous times. I share some research I did on how MBA students navigated the job market during previous recessions, and provide some thoughts and advice for how MBA students can use do now to navigate their career and job search during uncertain economic times.
It is MBA Admit Decision Season, and I’m profiling students and alum from different schools to give you the inside look on the MBA experience at that school. In this episode, I have Jackie Callahan, a first-year MBA Student at Duke University (Fuqua). In this interview, Callahan shares her story from her journey from the U.S. Navy to Duke, why she chose Fuqua, and her advice for admitted students and Veterans who are prospective MBA students. For show notes, check out www.mbaschooled.com/podcast...
It is MBA Admit Decision Season, and I’m profiling students and alum from different schools to give you the inside look on the MBA experience at that school. In this episode, I have Jasmine Ako, a graduate from the Yale SOM class of 2019. Ako shares her journey to Yale SOM, why she chose it, and how Yale is helping her in her career.
