In late 2022, I had the opportunity to speak with four Foster School of Business MBA Alumni who are now on the other side of the interview table about what they are listening for from candidates in behavioral interviews.  This episode features: Adam Schmidt at Accenture Sam Ead at Google Claire Herting at Walmart Skyler Brown at Goldman Sachs I talked to each one separately, but as you will hear, in this compilation of their answers -- across industries and roles, there are some very...

On this episode, recorded in March of 2022, I spoke with two Foster MBA students, Connor Almon-Griffin (MBA 2023) and Doug Beach (MBA 2022) about their experience attending the ClimateCap -- The Global MBA Summit on Climate, Capital and Business in February of that year. ClimateCap, as you'll hear, brings together MBA students from around the world with corporate leaders in sustainability to discuss the 21st century's biggest business issue. The past year has seen the passage of the...

On this episode, I speak with Gabriel Sheer, Director of Inovation and manager of the energy and mobility portfolios at Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit startup accelerator about the current state of the climate tech/climate solutions startup space at the beginning of 2023. Gabriel is also a good friend. We first became acquainted through his work organizing Seattle Green Drinks in the bid '00s, we later worked together at a sustainability tech startup in Seattle.  Gabriel has had an...

Photo by Blondinrikard Fröberg on Flickr under CC by/2.0 As a job candidate, it’s up to you to shine the spotlight on the skills and experiences you've had that are relevant to the job or company you are interviewing for. Too often, candidates prepare scripted answers and don't adapt them to the specific interview questions, company or interviewer. On this episode, I share some advice on effectively communicating during job interviews. Take a moment It is not enough to have a dozen...

Leadership Coach Melissa Schneider graduated from the Sloan School of Management at MIT with her MBA during the Global Financial Crisis. On this episode, she talks about the power of her network in charting her career path from Product Manager to Marketing Executive at Intuit, LinkedIn and GoDaddy before changing careers into coaching. Learn more about Melissa Schneider and her coaching practice at https://melissaschneider.co/

My sleep hasn't been great for years. I never have trouble falling asleep, but I wake after about 5 hours and then have trouble getting back to sleep.  I average about 7 hours of sleep a night, sometimes more, sometimes less (an improvement over a few years ago). A few years back, after hearing author Matt Walker talk about his book, Why We Sleep on a podcast (watch his TED Talk), I went down the rabbit hole (not for the first time) on ways to improve my sleep. I'm happy to report, that it...

This episode features a conversation with Nivedita Kumar, Foster MBA '22. Prior to coming to Foster, Nivi worked at Philips as a technical sales manager and then in a variety of roles culminating in Program Manager at Swiggy, a local delivery startup in India.  Nivi interned in a Program Manager role at Amazon during the summer of 2021 and then recruited for full time roles throughout her second year in the MBA program landing a full time role at Microsoft as a Product Manager. Nivi shared...

Jeff Perry, Foster Hybrid MBA '20, and founder of More Than Engineering, talks about his transition from engineer to coach of engineers and offers advice for how engineers can articulate their experience and value when switching careers. Visit ConversationsOnCareers.com for full episode show notes. Find additional resources at https://www.engineeringcareeraccelerator.com/uw

  Portia Obeng is a social media strategist with over 10 years of experience in social media strategy and content management. Her current focus is supporting individuals and organizations in their use of LinkedIn and Instagram. Our conversation focuses on how anyone, but especially job seekers can use LinkedIn to build their person brand. This is episode complements last season's conversation with Jeremy Schifeling about his book Linked, and using LinkedIn for job search. We talk about: ...

On this episode, I share advice from three members of the Foster MBA class of 2022 on the career search and interviewing. Hear from Elizabeth Daly, Tyson Colledge, and Christine Pham on the importance of knowing your story, and how they prepared for MBA interviews.

[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"] On this episode, I share some advice from three members of the Foster MBA class of 2022 on how to have a successful internship. Hear from Tyson Colledge, Elizabeth Daly and Christine Pham on the importance of networking, asking questions, and trying new things.  [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column] [/et_pb_row] [/et_pb_section]

Microsoft Program Manager and Foster Evening MBA alum Mikaela Winter talks about pursuing a career in energy and sustainability. Full show notes at https://conversationsoncareers.com/2022/06/01/mikaela-winter-on-her-path-to-a-career-in-sustainability-at-microsoft/

On this episode, I speak with Jeremy Schifeling. Jeremy is co-author of the book Linked: Conquer LinkedIn, Get Your dream job. Own your future with Omar Garriot. Before getting his MBA from Michigan's Ross school of Business, Jeremy worked in education, including as a kindergarten teacher. After business school, he worked at LinkedIn, and is now director of consumer and product marketing at Khan Academy. he founded Break into Tech, a resource for anyone without a tech background to break...

UW Foster School of Business Assistant Professor of Management Kira Schabram joined me to talk about her research into callings, compassion and burnout.  Burnout has a clinical diagnostic framework. It is not just feeling exhausted. Burnout is when exhaustion is accompanied by feelings of inefficacy or cynicism. Interventions that can help an individual experiencing burnout include small acts of compassion (and self-compassion) and self-care.  Self-care can help combat burnout that is...

Have you ever wondered when you should follow up with someone who's give you an informational interview? I'll share three tips in under six minutes to answer this common job seeker question.  Visit https://conversationsoncareers.com/2022/02/15/some-quick-advice-on-following-up-after-informational-interviews/ for episode show notes.

On this episode, I have a conversation with Mack Hopen, Foster MBA Class of 2022. Mack is an active member of the NetImpact club and a leader of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club at Foster. He came to Foster in pursuit of a career in the sustainability space and has some great advice for anyone else interested in such a career path.   Mack's three key points of advice for students: Have a plan of how to approach your career search Test out the careers through prototypes,...

On this episode I speak with Rachel Hester, Foster MBA 2018. Rachel went to work for Nike in a finance manager role after graduating, and in a little less than a year moved into a role in sustainability Finance. Since we recorded this conversation during the summer of 2021, Rachel has moved on from Nike and joined VMWare to work on ESG strategy and finance. Rachel shares some excellent advice for students who are interested in pursuing a career in sustainability. I think there are three key...

My guests on this episode are the authors of Back To Business and founders of The Swing Shift Nancy Jensen and Sarah Duenwald. I am joined by my colleague Elaine Newtson for a really interesting conversation about coming back to work after taking a career pause.  Nancy and Sarah's company, The Swing Shift offers women programs and services to compete in the modern job search. Their book, Back To Business: Finding Your Confidence, Embracing Your Skills, and Landing Your Dream Job After A...

Evan Gray, Andrew Wen -- both members of Foster MBA class of 2022 and participants in the Foster Venture Fellows program -- and Cameron Borumand, the Founding Partner of Fuse VC join me to talk about the Foster Venture Fellows Program and more broadly about careers in venture capital.  Some of the resources we mentioned include: https://johngannonblog.com/ https://www.strictlyvc.com/ https://www.axios.com/authors/danprimack Acquired, the podcast from Pioneer Square Labs Venture Deals ...

Style consultant Audrey Beaulac returns to discuss how the Covid-19 Pandemic, and Work From Home policies have impacted workplace fashions and style as many prepare to return to the office. We also talk about how to look your best on Zoom.

This episode features compiled advice for incoming MBA candidates at the Foster School of Business. I solicited advice from recent alumni, a few students, and even went into my archives for a clip from my conversation with Ruchi Singh about the Foster Consulting Society. In the coming weeks, I'll be releasing episodes that feature longer conversations with Rachel Hester, Melissa Young and Evan Gray, who all offered advice for this episode.  Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you don't...

The upcoming season of Conversations on Careers and Professional life is right around the corner.   Episodes will start to drop late August and continue through the fall quarter. I've got some great conversations to share, starting with advice from students and alumni to incoming students at the foster school.   I'll share a conversation with two 2021 MBAs, Evan Gray and Andrew Wen, and the Founding Partner of Fuse VC about the Foster Venture Fellows program, and another conversation...

I’m a Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths Coach, and work with MBA students at the Foster School of Business to understand their talents, invest in developing them into strengths, and then using those strengths to achieve goals and overcome challenges. Whenever you are starting something new, as our class of 2021 grads are now, and our class of 22 students who are beginning their internships, it can be a good idea to revisit your strengths and make a plan to achieve your goals.  With that in...

This is an episode of Foster Career Chats from the career services team of the Foster School of Business Undergraduate and Specialty Masters Program.  On this Episode career coach Lindsey Friessnig talks about The Art of Small Talk with Andy Rabitoy, Director of Foster Career Services for undergraduate and special masters.  If you enjoy this episode, you can find Foster Career Chats on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Austin Morton, Foster MBA 2019, Program Manager for EV (Electric Vehicle) and Sustainability at Element Fleet and I discuss his career path and landing a job in the sustainability space. Visit https://conversationsoncareers.com/2021/05/11/pursuing-an-mba-career-in-sustainability-with-austin-morton/ for complete show notes with all of the resources we discuss.