Editor’s Note: This episode has been produced in partnership with the Texas McCombs School of Business.

Whether it’s going to get an MBA to transition into a new career or accelerate your path on an existing one, finding the right program with the right resources to help students achieve their career goals is important to MBA applicants.

To talk about the importance of support and resources in the MBA career process, we had the pleasure of speaking with Abby Pollard, (Director, Full Time MBA Career Education & Coaching) and Claudia Lara (McCombs, ‘23) from the Texas McCombs School of Business.

As the Director of MBA Career Education and Coaching, Abby and her team work with hundreds of students each year as they navigate their career process in the Texas McCombs MBA program. And as a student with a desire to make a career switch, Claudia made sure to utilize all the resources at her disposal to transition into a career at the intersection of cleantech, finance, and sustainability.

During our conversation, Claudia spoke about her decision to get an MBA, why she chose Texas McCombs, and how the various career resources at McCombs helped her achieve her goal of transitioning into the cleantech industry, while Abby added in her insights from helping hundreds of students who have navigated career transitions, as well as her advice to prospective MBA applicants considering an MBA from the Texas McCombs.

Links

• Apply Now: The Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA Application
• Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA Program

In this solo episode, Al tackles a number of listener questions that are top of mind for aspiring MBA applicants including:

• What to do about an upcoming promotion at work and balancing that with pursuing an MBA
• When does it make sense to pursue a part-time MBA vs a Full-Time MBA?
• Advice on how to get your employer to pay for your MBA degree?

If you are an aspiring, current or former MBA student who has questions about the MBA or any other career related question, make sure to send us your questions so we can answer them in an episode. Contact us at [email protected]

Links

• What Type of MBA Program is Right For Me? https://mbaschooled.com/2022/08/29/162-what-type-of-mba-program-is-right-for-me/
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Nathan Tanner is a longtime friend of MBASchooled and the MBA Insider Podcast. During this episode, Nathan spoke to us about his journey to business school, and how his time in business school helped him transition into a career in HR. After spending the past 6-7 years working in HR & People roles at tech companies Nathan recently made a career change to becoming an Executive Coach & Founder of his own coaching firm.

During our conversation, Nathan spoke about the numerous career transitions he’s made in his career, including his most recent one to becoming an Executive Coach. Nathan also spoke about how his MBA has helped him grow in his career, and his advice for how MBAs can achieve their career goals

Links

• Nathan’s website: https://nathantanner.net/coaching/
• Nathans previous episode: https://mbaschooled.com/2020/05/19/episode-15-the-importance-of-career-development-for-mba-students-and-graduates/

Aaron Fung is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Business Partner at Pinterest, and an MBA Graduate from the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management. 

After starting his career in the banking and financial services industry, Aaron chose to go to business school to pursue his interests in people development. While he re-entered the financial services industry immediately after business school, Aaron did eventually transition into people development and now works in diversity, equity and inclusion at Pinterest, and serves as a Career Coach.

During our conversation, Aaron spoke about his journey and the topic of career transitions. He shared a number of reflections about what he’s learned from his MBA experience, and how it’s helped him navigate and grow his career.

Links

• Aaron’s Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronlfung/
• Aaron’s Coaching Practice; https://coachingaf.com/
• Al’s Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsaldea/ 

Blessing Adesiyan is a UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA Alum, and the Founder of MH, a platform that is helping mothers build better careers and happier homes. During this conversation, Blessing shared her journey to pursuing an MBA, how she used her time in business school at UNC Kenan-Flagler to prototype and test her idea, and her ambitions for empowering women to build better careers and happier homes. 

Links

• https://www.mhworklife.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/blessingadesiyan/

Listener Note: This is a replay of episode #87

This episode is all about informational interviews, something that many students and professionals rely on during the course of their time in business school and in the everyday workplace. With help of Alli Jaeggi (USC Marshall, ‘20) we broke down everything MBAs need to know about the topic of informational interviews, tips for how to do them right, and mistakes to avoid, and actionable practices you can put into place for your relationship building efforts in the job search and in your career

• Alli Jaeggi’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrajaeggi/ 

Welcome to 2023! In the first episode of 2023, Al Dea does a solo episode and tackles the following topics:

• Big Headlines in the MBA space in from Fall 2023
• Other underreported things that happened in the MBA space and their implications for the MBA and MBA degree
• Mailbag questions from listeners around how to write and talk about yourself in MBA applications

Links:

• Pay and Compensation: https://fortune.com/education/articles/mba-grads-from-these-6-top-business-schools-landed-200k-starting-pay-packages-in-2022/
• Darden’s Pay Stats: https://poetsandquants.com/2022/06/08/2022-darden-mbas-get-21-jump-in-median-salary-over-previous-class/
• GMAC Applications: https://poetsandquants.com/2022/10/26/gmac-says-applications-to-b-schools-dropped-3-4-globally-in-2022/
• Wharton’s New Concentrations: https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/story/wharton-welcomes-two-new-majors-and-concentrations-dei-and-esgb/
• NY Times and HBS: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/business/business-school-social-justice.html
• WSJ and Berkeley: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-class-where-future-bosses-learn-how-to-deliver-bad-news-11669576727
• GMAC’s New CEO: https://www.gmac.com/news-center/gmac-press-releases/graduate-management-admission-council-appoints-joy-jones-as-incoming-ceo
• MBA Roundtable: https://www.diverseeducation.com/reports-data/article/15304369/report-testoptional-policies-result-in-increased-application-numbers-and-student-diversity-at-many-business-schools 

Listen today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Christina Wallace is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, an HBS Graduate, entrepreneur and author. As a self-described “human venn diagram,” Christina wears many hats, and has learned to embrace and lean into her unique talents and found ways to bring them to life throughout a multitude of different avenues in her career and in her life.

During this conversation, we spoke about Christina’s career journey to HBS, and her time in management consulting, as an entrepreneur and life now as an author and lecturer. We also spoke about the concept of a Portfolio life, and how this framework and language has helped Christina and others find more expansive ways to find meaning and fulfillment in their work and life.

Links

• Christina Wallace's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinawallace
• The Portfolio Life:

Today’s guest host is Brad Vonick, a Texas McCombs MBA Graduate and friend of MBA Insider.

Today’s guest is Greg Labanowski, a Texas McCombs MBA Graduate from the Class of 2022. In college, Greg was a member of the USC men’s tennis team, and was able to pursue his passion to work in sports prior to getting his MBA. After a few years in the industry, he chose to pursue an MBA and attend Texas McCombs to further his career.

During this conversation, Greg spoke about his journey to an MBA and how his time at McCombs and in business school helped him grow for his post-MBA career. Brad and Greg also talked in depth about the definition of career and professional success, and some of the steps Greg took to learn and grow in his career.

• Greg's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greglabanowski/

Nicole Gwanzura is the CEO and Founder of EAC Consulting LLC. Nicole is a leader in the early career talent attraction and development space, and works with organizations to help them attract, develop and retain diverse talent while empowering early career professionals to get the guidance and resources they need to grow their careers. 

During our conversation, Nicole shared her journey to starting her business and some of the insights she’s gained from helping organizations and early career professionals navigate career opportunities. She also shared her thoughts on why an MBA could be a great opportunity for early career professionals, and her advice for how these individuals can explore the MBA degree.

Listen today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Links

• Website:https://www.educationadvancementconsulting.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolegwanzura/