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Right now, many MBA students are in the thick of internship interview season, navigating preparing for interviews, finding opportunities and building relationships with hiring managers and recruiters all while managing all the other academic components of business school is no easy task! In this episode, Al Dea, walks through some common challenges that MBA students face during internship recruiting season, and provides some tips and best practices for staying on course and focusing on your own personal goals.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 This week, we’re flipping the format on the MBA Insider Podcast, with the help of a former guest and friend Eryn Schultz, and putting Al Dea (MBA Insider Host) in the guest chair. In this episode, Eryn, a fellow entrepreneur, talks to Al about his own entrepreneurial journey with building MBASchooled. Al spoke about his motivation for creating MBASchooled, why he recently left his corporate career at Salesforce to focus on his entrepreneurial journey, and what’s next for MBASchooled.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 Paul Millerd is an MIT Sloan MBA Graduate, and the Author of the Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Life and Work. Like many hard-working and driven college graduates, Paul entered the corporate world after college ready to work hard, achieve success and climb the corporate ladder. But through a series of events before and after business school, Paul ended up taking an alternative path, and evolving his views on life and work. Much of which is written about in his book The Pathless Path as well as his newsletter, Boundless. During our conversation, Paul spoke about his career journey after graduating from MIT Sloan and with an MBA, and what ultimately led him to leaving his corporate career for a path of exploration, as well as the many learnings, lessons, and experiences Paul got along the way. We also spoke about his book, and the applications and insights that can be relevant to those who are reflecting on their career aspirations.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 Many MBA students cite that networking and building relationships are two of the most valuable parts of the MBA experience. But how does that play out, and how do MBA graduates cultivate their relationships with their peers and classmates during business school and beyond? In this episode, we spoke to three MBA alums, Margaret Nealon (USC Marshall, ‘22) Ethan Siegel (Owen, ‘22) and Jill Toner (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘22) about their MBA experience, and how the as recent MBA alums are using their relationships to develop personally and professionally after they graduate from business school.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 Christina Wallace is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, an HBS Graduate, entrepreneur and author. In her most recent book, The Portfolio Life: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card, Christina makes the case for how employees are multi-dimensional individuals, and can re-think and reframe their relationship with their job and career, and to use portfolio and diversification theory to de-risk and explore multiple paths instead. During our conversation, Christina spoke about how living her own version of a Portfolio life gave her the idea to start researching the book, and why we need a more expansive mindset around how employees can navigate their lives and careers in a more expansive and modern way. She shares her perspective on how people who are not interested in a more traditional or tried career path, can use the portfolio model to find meaning and success, and she also makes the case, for how in the future of work, The Portfolio model can be a more expansive way for employees to manage their career in today’s modern world of work. Links The Portfolio Life: https://www.portfoliolife.com/

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes One of the questions that is top of mind for any professional who is considering an MBA is around value - what is the ROI of an MBA degree, and is it worth it for me? In this solo episode, Al talks about how an MBA is one of many potential accelerants for career growth and learning, and why someone might value an MBA degree. He walks through key questions around figuring out if an MBA is worth it to you, the common reasons why people see value in an MBA, some alternatives to MBA degrees, and how to figure out if an MBA is the right path for your own career learning and growth. Links: Should I get an MBA? The MBA Premium

Mentorship is a critical element of success in the career journey of many leaders. So how can mentorship facilitate learning and transformation during business school so that an MBA student can achieve their unique goals? Founded over a decade ago, the Executive Connections Program at the ASU W.P Carey Business School was designed to provide MBA students with relationships, knowledge, and confidence personalized to their unique career goals In this episode, you’ll hear from Jenny Tang (Mentee)) Amy Hillman, (Professor, and Program Director) and Anna Thomasson (Mentor) as they dive into the Executive Connections program at the Arizona State University W.P Carey MBA Program, and how specifically it helps MBA students as they navigate through their MBA experience and beyond. Throughout the conversation, Amy, shared her perspective as the Program Director of how the program is designed to help a student navigate to achieve their goals, while Jenny (a former student) shared her own experience of her mentor relationship with Anna (an Executive in Residence) and how it helped Jenny throughout her time in business school and even now as an MBA graduate. Note: This episode was produced in collaboration with the ASU W. P. Carey MBA Program Listen Today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Speakers Amy Hillman Rusty Lyon Chair of Strategy, W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University Jenny Tang W.P. Carey MBA Graduate, 2018 Anna Thomasson Executive in Residence W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University Links: W. P. Carey Full-time MBA program W. P. Carey Executive Connections

Stephanie Movahhed is Business and Mindset Coach, and an MBA Graduate from the Michigan Ross School of Business. Prior to her time in business school, Stephanie spent time at Google before deciding to pursue an MBA to get formal business training. In her time post business school, Stephanie found ways to follow her interests and curiosities, even if it meant taking her down a path that she didn’t always expect. This has allowed her to create a life and career that she finds fulfillment and meaning in. During our conversation, Stephanie spoke about how after graduating business school, she was able to take advantage of following her interests and curiosities which led her to first working in consulting and tech startups, including spending time at LinkedIn during periods of high growth. Stephanie also spoke about how she found her interest in coaching, eventually decided to become a business and leadership coach, and her own advice and lessons for other professionals who are looking at an MBA to help them find opportunity and excitement in their career. Links: Stephanie’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smovahhed/ Website: https://www.stephaniemovahhed.com/

MBA students go to business school to achieve their career goals. But how does that actually happen? In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Simone Bayfield and Joey Kimes about the MBA program at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Consistently ranked as a top MBA program in the United States, W. P. Carey offers MBA students the benefits of a community-driven MBA program with the scale and opportunities of the broader Arizona State University brand and network. During our conversation, Simone, a W. P. Carey MBA Graduate, shared her journey to W. P. Carey, and the steps she took to uncover her career aspirations in business school and how she was able to utilize her time and the resources at W. P. Carey to achieve her career goal to work in brand management. As the Executive Director of the Arizona State University WP Carey Career Development Center, Joey shared how he and his team of Career specialists support all students in a personalized and unique way, along with offering his own perspective of his experience directly working with Simone in guiding and supporting her in her own journey through the MBA program at W. P. Carey. Speakers: Simone Bayfield W.P Carey Graduate, 2019 Joseph Kimes - Executive Director, W.P. Carey Career Services Center Links: W. P. Carey Full-time MBA program W. P. Carey Executive Connections Note: This episode was produced in collaboration with the ASU W. P. Carey MBA Program

A common question that career driven professionals have is “how do I know if I am ready for an MBA?” In this episode, Al walks through how by taking stock and reflecting on where you are in your career, you can determine if an MBA could be the next step. Make sure to listen in to learn How the workplace and careers are changing, and why an MBA could be valuable Common reasons why MBA students choose to go to business school Common scenarios for when you might be ready to pursue an MBA as the next step in your career Criteria for how to evaluate if you are ready for an MBA A list of tactical actions to take if you want to know if you are ready for an MBA

In this episode, we explore the opportunities that come with MBA rotational programs. This episode features Jack Brynes (UNC Kenan-Flagler) Cindy Zheng (Wharton) and Adam Tomasiello (UNC-Kenan-Flagler) three MBA graduates who pursued MBA rotational programs after graduating from business school. During this episode, we’ll unpack what a rotational program is, some of the benefits of rotational programs, and hear from Jack, Cindy and Adam about how their experiences in rotational programs and how they are helping them grow in their respective careers. Links Jack Byrnes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbyrnes/ Cindy Zheng: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindy-b-zheng/ Adam Tomasiello: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-tomasiello/

In this episode, Al shares four specific actions that all professionals can take in order to grow their career today.