Episode #11: Building Career Management Skills For Life in Business School

John Huang (Ross, ‘15) has been an MBA graduate for five years as of this April. In this time he’s worked for the largest company in the world, a 10 person startup, and 2 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 career development skills for life, and how he has used those skills to chart his career after he graduated. Find this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

  • 4:00 John shares why he chose to get an MBA
  • 6:03 – John shares what he recruiter for his summer internship, why he chose that path, and how he ended up pivoting to something else
  • 9:50 – John talks about the career development skills he learned during the internship recruiting process
  • 12:34 – John shares his guidance for how students can identify the right career path when choosing amongst multiple career paths
  • 17:00 – John shares some of the career development skills you build in business school that you rely on after you graduate
  • 20:40 – John talks about his first job out of business school
  • 22:21 John talks about how he went from the largest company in the world, to a 10-person startup
  • 24:50 – John talks about how he was able to make a career switch into a new field without having the title
  • 27:50 – Al provides guidance on how to position yourself in an interview in the hiring process when you are making a career transition
  • 31:30 – Al talks about the importance of knowing your priorities and managing the trade-offs in the job search
  • 34:04 – John shares how MBAs sometimes get “career FOMO” and how to manage it
  • 35:50 – John talks about how to stick to your own goals and interests
  • 38:40 – John talks about how he thinks about his own career journey now that he is 5 years out of business school
  • 41:23 – John shares his job search advice for MBA students