Hybrid MBA Hosts Second Virtual Career Expo

The Hybrid MBA Program is recognized consistently for its career management services. Through a Q&A, Hybrid MBA career coaches provide a behind-the-scenes look into the second Virtual Career Expo. 

The Hybrid MBA program is proud to offer robust career management offerings.  Hybrid MBA students are supported with tremendous professional development, including career events, 1:1 career coaching, alumni mentorship programs, career change groups and more.

2022 Virtual Career Expo

Briefly describe the career management team and the services you provide to Hybrid MBA students.

The Career Management team’s offering to the Hybrid MBA students comes in two categories: coaching and programming. The career coaches conduct 1:1 and group coaching for current students and alumni when needed. As for programming, we organize an average of over 40 career events of varying scales every year. These career events primarily focus on skill acquisition, networking, and career advancement & enablement. 

We have a fully committed team for the Hybrid MBA program. Though we do collaborate with other programs for some career events, the Hybrid MBA students remain our top priorities for all our offerings.

How was the Career Expo started?

The Career Expo was launched in 2021. Through formal and informal interactions with the career management team, many students have consistently shown interest in career shift and/or advancement, and would like to explore different career fields, which can help them strategize their professional growth. Hence the Career Expo series. These event series are designed to collaborate with our alumni of the TMMBA, Hybrid MBA, and Executive MBA programs and help you learn about different career options.

The Career Expo introduces eight different fields through eight panels, including product management, program management, entrepreneurship, marketing, sales & business development, entrepreneurship, operations, supply chain, and DEI. It runs once a month for four months, across the winter and spring quarters. Students can register for as many or as few as they prefer. We reach out to our alumni from these three working professional MBA programs and these alumni serve as panelists. 

In summary, the goals of the Career Expo are to 1) expose the students to different career fields; 2) connect students with our alumni in target career fields; and 3) help career shifters make informed decisions about their career decisions. Therefore, every panel will be facilitated by a career management team member but led by the student attendees.

Who presented at the event?

The virtual format actually attracted a broader scope and larger population of audience than an in-person event due to the removal of logistics challenges and efficient time management. We had alumni from not only major players that have strong presence in the Pacific Northwest, such as Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, Boeing, and Blue Origin, to name a few, but also companies that don’t have visible footprints in this region, such as Walmart and Disney. It would be impossible to have these alumni if it was held in person. 

What are the advantages to hosting a Career Expo online?

The top three benefits are 1) accessibility. Virtual events allow us to reach out to stakeholders outside of this region; 2) sustainability. Less spent on logistics and transportation not only makes it more cost effective but also shows our responsiveness to the environmental concerns. And 3) inclusiveness. It opens doors to anyone who is unwilling to beat the traffic during rush hours, has family commitments, and has other meeting arrangements around the event time. 

What was the reception following the event?

We’ve received a 90% satisfaction rate and a 100% retention rate since this project was launched last year. Just a few days ago, a second year student told me that this event had helped him learn the terminology for his target role and enabled him to speak the interviewers’ language during a job interview. One negative piece of feedback I’ve received from both students and alumni panelists so far is that they wished the panel could be longer, though we have extended the panel duration from 45 minutes to one hour this year. Time flies when you are truly engaged.