Steve Dalton, a senior career consultant and program director at Duke University's Fuqua School, shares time-saving techniques for choosing a career and acing common interview questions from his new book, The Job Closer. Having worked in MBA career services for over 16 years, Steve also shares what MBA employers are looking for, how Covid-19 has changed recruiting, and one of his favorite exercises for helping MBAs make difficult career decisions.

Questions

• Introducing Steve (0:00)
• Why Steve wrote The Job Closer and hates tips (5:00)
• Choosing a career in 63 minutes (15:00)
• Answering the "tell me about yourself (TMAY)" interview question with "FIT" (21:15)
• Can Steve's recipes be too formulaic? (33:30)
• What MBA employers are looking for (36:35)
• Building rapport online with recruiters (41:00)
• The "Sleep On It" exercise for making difficult decisions (44:20)
• Inner vs. outer ring careers (51:30)

About Steve

Steve Dalton is the author of The 2-Hour Job Search and The Job Closer, founder of the corporate training firm Contact2Colleague, and a senior career consultant and program director at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he got his MBA in 2004. Steve lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Episode write-up and show notes: https://touchmba.com/the-job-closer-steve-dalton/

Get free, personalized school selection help at Touch MBA: https://touchmba.com

Darren invites Susan Bertulli, Director, MBA Career Management at Ivey Business School at Western University to discuss MBA employment reports. First, why and how are MBA employment reports produced? Then, what should you look for? Which employment figures and statistics matter? How can you use them to shortlist b-schools and plan your career?

The Ivey MBA has been ranked #1 in Canada for five years running by Bloomberg Businessweek for both student and recruiter satisfaction, so don't miss this inside look into how a top MBA career services team produces their employment report.

Questions

• Susan's background (5:00)
• The role of MBA career services (6:55)
• The challenges of MBA career management in a 1-year MBA program (9:12)
• What applicants should look for from MBA career management teams (12:16)
• The context surrounding MBA employment reports (14:30)
• The challenges of producing an annual employment report (18:00)
• Key figures for applicants to focus on (20:43)
• How applicants can approach career services with employment statistics questions (26:15)
• Does a business school's size affect diversity of industry recruiters? (30:17)
• Understanding a school's list of recruiting firms (34:00)
• How should applicants use employment reports to shortlist b-schools (39:40)
• How applicants can show employability in MBA interviews (42:30)
• MBA Career services: expectations vs reality (44:47)
• Actions of students & alumni that succeed in their career search (48:00)
• Have employers' criteria changed for MBAs? (50:20)
• Susan's recommended resources for career planning (53:05)

About our Guest

Susan Bertulli is Director, MBA Career Management at Ivey Business School at Western University, where she manages student engagement in career planning, from admissions through to job employment. Over her 10+ years with Ivey, MBAs have achieved 90% placement with over 90% of the students reporting on their success. Susan also serves on several boards including the Dorchester Minor Hockey Association and St. Peter’s Anglican Church.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/behind-the-scenes-mba-employment-report

Guest Host Sabaina Kamara, Michigan Ross MBA '19, invites her section-mate Sheela Lal to share her experience applying for internships, founding DrunkShrub and securing a full-time job post-graduation. Listen to get a real-time, inside look into the MBA experience at a top b-school like Ross.

Questions

• Sheela's background and reasons for getting an MBA (0:47)
• Sheela's approach to landing an internship (7:20)
• Sheela founds DrunkShrub (10:33)
• How Sheela took advantage of Ross' resources to further her business (14:43)
• How Sheela navigated running DrunkShrub and looking for full-time employment in consulting and government affairs (19:30)
• Sheela's advice to applicants about applying to business school and entrepreneurship (23:55)

About our Guest Host

Sabaina Kamara is currently an MBA student at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Prior to starting her MBA, Sabaina worked in as an HR Analyst at a management and employment law firm, focusing on HR compliance for diversity and inclusion. Sabaina will work in consulting for Deloitte Strategy & Operations in New York City after she graduates.

About Our Guest

Sheela comes across as someone who knows a lot, but really, she's just incredibly good at regurgitating things she's heard on any of the 30 podcasts she listens to. Her current favorites are Detroit Today, Splendid Kitchen, and The Foreign Desk, which reflect her long term interests - in-depth state government engagement, food science and chemistry, and lastly, very sassy international news analysis. Sheela has worked in Missouri politics on and off for 10 years, between congressional and local campaigns, the state house, and at Progress Missouri (a cousin to Progress Michigan). She founded Drunk Shrub, an alternative social beverage company, this summer, and worked in Sri Lanka and India for two years before returning to Missouri. She's found business school to be a surprisingly liberating experience - with very few expectations of appropriate post-graduation steps, she's free to explore her creative side.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/starting-a-business-during-your-mba-sheela-lal-michigan-ross-mba

Rob O'Reilly performed stand up comedy for 16 years. Then he decided to get an MBA. We discuss his journey to USC Marshall.

Questions

• Rob's background (3:25)
• MBA career goals and positioning (8:00)
• The GMAT and showing "quant skills" (18:13)
• Shortlisting business schools (23:06)
• Communicating your interest to business schools (32:30)
• Interviews (39:55)
• The future of entertainment content (45:32)
• Looking forward to USC Marshall (45:50)

About Our Guest

Rob O'Reilly worked as a standup comic, production assistant, staff writer, video producer, and TV producer - most recently for MTV's Ridiculousness - before applying for an MBA. He has landed appearances on The Tonight Show, Last Comic Standing and Live at Gotham. He was named one of LA Weekly’s Top 10 Comedy Acts to Watch and one of TBS's 101 Funniest Comedians. He'll be attending USC Marshall's MBA program this Fall. Rob got his B.A. in Television from Boston University.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: 

http://touchmba.com/stand-up-comic-mba-student-rob-oreilly-usc-marshall-mba

Vivien Koh from Essec Business School joins the show to discuss what makes the Essec Global MBA unique, the school's admissions process and career opportunities for Essec Global MBA students.

Program Highlights (3:28) | Admissions (21:28) | Scholarships (28:22) | Careers (31:02)

Essec MBA Highlights 

• September intake, 12 months, 100 students/year
• Students can study on French and/or Singapore campuses, depending on major
• Offers 6 majors in Luxury Brand Management, Hospitality Management, Finance, Strategy & Management, Enterprise Innovation, and Digital Business
• Top Destinations for Class of 2016: 50% France / 25% Asia / 10% Middle East & North America / 10% Europe (excluding France) / 5% North America
• Top Industries for Class of 2016: 30% Services / 25% Consulting / 20% Industry / 15% Startups / 5% Public Sector & NGOs / 5% Finance & Banking
• Ranked #27 by QS Global MBA Rankings 2018 (#13 in Europe)

About Our Guest

Vivien Koh is Executive Director, Business Development and Marketing for ESSEC Business School, Asia-Pacific. Previously, Vivien was Head of New Business Sales, Asia Pacific-Japan for Google and ASEAN Regional Sales Director for Oracle. Her sales and marketing career in technology sector spans over 20 years. Vivien received her MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/essec-global-mba-admissions-interview/

Episode Sponsor

Here at Touch MBA we help you find your best-fit business schools. But what about getting an MBA in the first place? How can it help you? Do you need an MBA to become an entrepreneur? What should you consider when choosing between 1 and 2 year programs? And will the MBA be as valuable in the future?

I sat down with Prof. Franz Heukamp, Associate Dean of MBA Programs at IESE, to get his thoughts on these very important questions. Getting an MBA is a massive investment. As Prof. Franz points out, applicants should think about the long-term ROI – and not just financial ROI – of the degree. I enjoyed his direct answers, and think you will too.

Enjoy the show and we'll see you next Friday!

About Our Guest

Franz Heukamp is Professor of Managerial Decision Sciences and Associate Dean of MBA Programs at IESE Business School, where he teaches in the MBA, Executive MBA, and executive education programs. He got his PhD from MIT and his main area of research is behavioral decision-making with a special interest in the area of Neuroeconomics.

Are you struggling with post-MBA career goals in your application? Top business schools are looking for well-researched and realistic career goals. But exactly how can you do this? Especially when you're strapped for time?

Steve Dalton, Senior Associate Director of the Career Management Center at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and author of the 2 Hour Job Search, joined the show this week to share his systematic formula to efficiently and effectively target potential employers and secure the first interview.

Steve has delivered 2 Hour Job Search workshops to over 20 business schools, and his process is now part of the Fuqua MBA curriculum. I am a huge fan of the book and think it's a must read for not only MBAs, but MBA applicants as well. You'll also get a sneak peek of the strategic and tactical career guidance you'll get at a bschool like Fuqua.

In this episode you'll learn:

How to rig the job search in your favor and avoid artificial desperation
How to generate a list of 40 target employers in 40 minutes
The 3 pieces of data that are both easy to find and predictive of job search success
Steve's LAMP method for prioritizing which employers to target
Why systematically building internal referrals at your target employers is the key to securing interviews in the online era
How to focus on "boosters" (people willing to help) vs. "obligates" or "curmudgeons"
How to prepare for informational interviews - whether for job searches or MBA programs
How to answer common interview questions like "Tell me about yourself" and "Why this MBA program?"
The TIARA framework to systematically build likeability with strangers
What Steve advises Fuqua MBAs to succeed in their job searches
And much, much more...

Don't miss this episode if you're planning your post-MBA career goals or looking to change jobs.

Are there really more MBA job opportunities in Hong Kong and China? How has the market changed and what are employers looking for? This week I sat down with Marjorie Chang, Director of CUHK's Career Management Centre, to separate fact from fiction. Listen on to get an "on the ground" picture of the job market in Hong Kong and China. You'll also get insight into how MBA admissions evaluates your post-MBA career goals