Career Boosters: An MBA Podcast

This week, we're joined by Andras Morosi and Robb Sombach, professors at the Alberta School of Business who co-teach a course designed to prepare undergrad students for the parts of work that technical courses don't cover. While they come from different backgrounds, they both have a passion for setting students up for success in a way that is so much more than just technical skills. And in...

This week, we're joined by Heather Braid, Manager of Teaching and Learning at the Alberta School of Business, who took an unlikely path from civil engineering to leading a team focused on student experience and program quality. Heather talks about what empathetic leadership actually looks like in practice by building it into your structure, your schedule, and your habits. She also pushes back...

This week, we're joined by Veronica Alfred, a global talent acquisition specialist who introduces us to something she calls ‘talentless recruitment’: a growing reality where anywhere from 50 to 70% of candidates in a pipeline are fraudulent, AI-generated, or simply not who they say they are. She shares what recruiters are now having to do to catch it, and what it costs legitimate candidates in...

This week, we're joined by Varsha Govindarajan, a part-time MBA student and energy professional, who came on to talk about something she calls the quarter-life crisis: that stretch between 25 and 35 where the path you were expecting turns out to be different than your reality. She talks honestly about growing up with strong expectations, learning to make peace with the gray, and what happens w...

This week, we're joined by Brea Elfer, Marketing and Communications Partner at the Alberta School of Business, who opened up about her own difficult undergraduate experience and how it shaped why she does this work. The conversation kept circling around a central idea: the best brands (personal or organizational) aren't built on a polished, curated version of yourself. They're built on...

This week, we're joined by Harkirat Malhi, first-year MBA student and varsity soccer player for the U of A Golden Bears. He is doing the MBA while training five days a week, playing games on weekends, volunteering, and adding a summer internship to the mix. His surprising realization is that thriving isn't about having less on your plate. It's about building the habits and mindset that...

This week, we're joined by Rachel Lachman, the Employer and Community Partner Outreach Specialist on the CWIL team at the Alberta School of Business, whose job is building relationships between employers and students. Her take on networking is straightforward: it's just a conversation, and the only real mistake is standing next to the appetizers all night. She also shares her own recent em...

This week, we’re joined by Danyelle Bernier, MBA/MAg student, to talk about what the MBA has reflected back to her. She came into the program with a solid sense of who she was, but still found herself surprised by what started to surface through the classes, the coaching, and the conversations along the way. What comes through in this episode is not a total reinvention. It’s a clearer view of her...

This week we talk with Andriy Tovstiuk (MBA 19‘) about networking, curiosity, and what actually makes someone interesting to talk to. From serving in the military to teaching around the world and now working in AI, Andriy shares how saying yes to experiences creates better conversations and stronger professional relationships. We also talk about a surprising benchmark from Stanford MBA students, w...

This week we walk through the AI career management simulation Tiffany ran in class, with Paul as the guinea pig. We load real context into AI, ask it to build a “perfect” job posting for Paul, draft resume profile lines, create a cover letter hook, generate interview questions, and practice a story-based answer. And we show that the value in partnering with AI in career management isn’t in the fir...

Part-time MBA student Jason Kaban is doing what many assume is unsustainable. A demanding leadership role, family life, and an MBA layered on top. Instead of describing his life as overwhelming, he talks about it as intentional. Jason shares how shifting from “I have to” to “I choose to” reshaped how he spends his time, how he leads, and how he listens, even when the calendar stays full.

Kalie Van Ree (MBA ’16), Senior Manager at KPMG, joins us to talk about interviews from the hiring side of the table. We get into what strong candidates do early, the story mistakes that quietly hurt otherwise solid interviews, and why trying to “impress” is often the wrong strategy. And we even admit something students don’t always believe: interviewers get nervous too. Got an interview coming up...

A lot of MBA students are convinced they don’t have any good stories. Brooke Rose, part-time MBA student, sees it differently. Drawing from healthcare fundraising, improv, and stand-up, she talks about what happens when you stop trying to sound impressive and start paying attention to what’s actually happening in the room. The conversation touches on reading the audience, naming awkward moments, a...

Jordan Mayers, full-time Fast-Track MBA Student, has a way of making networking feel less intimidating and more human. In this conversation, he shares how his mindset around networking shifted during the MBA, especially as a fast-track student with less time and more pressure to make connections count. He talks about curiosity, momentum, and why networking works best when you treat it like a muscl...

Most people have LinkedIn. Fewer people are intentional about how they’re showing up there. Our colleague James Kuang joins us for a thoughtful conversation about visibility, signals, and how small choices on LinkedIn quietly shape how others read you. We talk less about optimization and more about awareness: what gets noticed, what gets inferred, and how to use the platform in a way that feels al...

MBA student Sydney Fournier brings a valuable perspective to this conversation. She reviews hundreds of resumes a day as part of her work in recruitment and sees firsthand what helps candidates move forward and what quietly gets them screened out. She shares what it’s like on the other side of the application process, how AI is shaping early decisions, and why clean, thoughtful resumes still matte...

Fast-track MBA student Phil Fung reflects on what happened when an unexpected career turn pushed him to rethink his story. Stepping into the MBA shifted how he sees himself, not as someone needing to justify a non-linear path, but as someone who actually belongs in the room. He talks candidly about confidence, comparison, and the quiet work of naming what you’re good at without downplaying it. The...

This wrap-up episode pulls together the moments that changed us this year, inside the classroom and out. Tiffany shares how somatic work opened a new way of coaching, and Paul talks about the power that comes from actually knowing yourself, not just talking about it. We chat about the real stuff we all wrestle with: finding buffer when life gets loud, stretching without snapping, and learning to c...

Career educator and EMBA grad Michelle Height joins us to unpack what three decades in career development have taught her about helping business students land, and thrive in, roles that fit. She shares how her Executive MBA started as a “check the box” exercise but then ended up reshaping her confidence, skills, and path. The conversation zooms out to the bigger picture of branding, communication,...

MBA student Deen Ajayi joins us for a conversation about emotional intelligence that goes way past empathy. Deen shares how his thinking of EQ has recently shifted as pays attention to things like self-expression, decision making, and how others read you. And he tells a story about his car being towed after a long day and responding in a way neither of us saw coming. It’s an honest, grounded look...

MBA student and Registered Nurse Frans Hanna joins us as we shift from knowing your talents to using them together. In week two of Strengths, we explore how the four domains connect and how self-awareness becomes a team advantage. Frans shares what it’s like to land in the Influencing corner, how trust goes deeper than first impressions, and why honesty and transparency help teams do their best wo...

In this solo episode, host Paul Taylor sits down with MBA student Hajira Malik to explore how understanding your natural talents can transform your career trajectory. Hajira shares her unique journey from government work to nursing to pursuing her MBA, driven by a desire for new challenges and growth. Through the lens of the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment, they dive deep into Hajira's top...

MD/MBA student Muhammad Israr-Ul-Haq joins us to explore what happens when you slow down and define what truly matters. Through a class exercise that helped him narrow in on a few core values, he shares the unexpected mix of clarity and discomfort that comes with naming them—and how that awareness is shaping how he studies, leads, and prepares for the next stage of his medical journey. It’s a grou...

Fast-track MBA student Jasmeen Dhah joins us to unpack an exercise where classmates reflect your brand while you stay silent. No justifying, no explaining, just listening. Jasmeen shares the nerves of going in, the surprise of how much peers could pick up from simple images, and the possible tensions it revealed between her career ambitions and her need for quiet space. She also reflects on feedba...

First-year MBA student Joshua Eszczuk joins us to unpack what it actually looks like to manage energy instead of time. He points out it’s not about how many hours you spend, but the quality of energy you bring. From recognizing his current “half tank” energy level, to noticing what “sharpens or dulls his shovel”, Josh shares how small shifts in awareness change the way you work, rest, and say no....