Hello Everyone!
If we’ve met at a CSEA conference or I’ve led a workshop for your students, it’s great to reconnect!
Welcome to The Confident Candidate - a bite-sized, once-a-month newsletter where I’ll share modern strategies that can help your students network effectively and ace interviews. With 13 years of experience working with MBA & MS programs, I promise to keep it relevant and useful with insights, industry news and coaching solutions.
If it’s not for you, feel free to unsubscribe, no hard feelings! Looking forward to staying connected.
Sincerely,
Rushab Kamdar
Founder, The Confidence Company
Storytelling = Competetive Advantage
The plain truth is that students struggle to stand out because they don't know how to talk about themselves and their experiences in an interesting way. Storytelling has emerged as a pivotal skill for MBA & MS job candidates aiming to distinguish themselves when networking and interviewing. With the influx of international students, storytelling is more important now than ever before.
Employers aren’t just looking for technical expertise; they want candidates who are credible, can communicate effectively, and can demonstrate trust - all of which come through great storytelling. Studies have shown that facts presented within a narrative framework are more likely to be retained by listeners.
All of you are aware that from networking conversations to final-round interviews, the ability to tell a well-structured, engaging, and authentic story is what gets candidates hired in today’s world. We all have heard the statistic that 85% of positions are filled through networking.
The key takeaway here is: If you want your students to land a job, make storytelling a priority for them!
Free Webinar: Storytelling Strategies
Learn how to get your students to master storytelling when networking and interviewing.
Thursday, February 13 2025 at 3:30 PM EST
Spotlight:
Harvard Busienss School
Last week, Harvard Business School hosted its Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) – which are multi-day courses designed to help students explore career choices, develop practical skills, and dive into new topics. This year, HBS’s career services team, led by Sarah Sikowitz, organized a three-day deep dive into modern job searching titled, It Takes More Than a Good Resume: Job Searching in a Modern World. The program focused on three essential pillars:
- Finding Your Focus
- Networking with Purpose
- Creating a Plan
Sarah and her team fostered an environment where students could deeply reflect on their career goals, develop meaningful connections, and build a strategic approach to job searching.
As part of the Networking with Purpose segment, I had the privilege to run a half-day workshop demonstrating the power of storytelling and how it can enhance networking and interviewing success. The engagement and enthusiasm from the students were incredible, and it was inspiring to see them apply these concepts in real-time.
Programs like these highlight the power of intentional career development so that students can stand out in any competitive climate - and I was honored to be a part of it.
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