In the fall of 2020, Ali Rizk (MBA ’21) found himself with more power than he could have ever imagined. As an intern with Procter & Gamble (P&G), he was looking after some of the most sought-after products during the global pandemic: toilet paper and paper towel.
By building a dashboard to monitor shipments, his team could re-allocate supplies appropriately so that stores were well stocked with P&G products, even as consumer demand grew.
Ali Rizk (MBA ’21)
“I wanted a wildcard internship — to work on something unique and that could potentially shape my career story — and that’s exactly what I got,” he explains. “Few people can say that they had a direct hand in helping people get toilet paper on shelves during a very desperate time.”
In the midst of a global pandemic, students like Rizk have been thriving in the flexible internship program, where Full-Time MBA students step out of the classroom and apply their management knowledge to help organizations tackle real business problems. Throughout the internship, which takes place during the summer, fall or winter term following their first year, students seek advice from internship advisors — experienced executives who are eager to offer guidance on how to navigate tricky professional situations and general career counselling.
During this crisis, there have been plenty of new and unusual problems for students to solve.
Rizk’s advisor, Delaine Hampton, always looked forward to hearing about what he was working on. Rizk’s projects included evaluating the opportunities and risks for the company’s toilet paper and paper towel products, building a dashboard to track shipments and finding new retailers for P&G products.
“As Ali progressed, he was able to reflect on those experiences and turn them into nuggets for growth,” she says. “It was amazing to see his transformation from week to week.”
Rizk, who has an engineering background, was new to the consumer packaged goods space and faced a steep learning curve. Hampton, who served as director of consumer and market knowledge at P&G Global for a number of years, was eager to answer questions and draw on her own experiences.
“I try to provide a safe space for students to share their thoughts, challenges and fears openly,” says Hampton, who points out that because advisors aren’t professors or affiliated with the organizations students work with, they are well-positioned to provide impartial and thoughtful advice.
Rizk says these conversations with Hampton, as well with his career consultant at Rotman and many others in his network helped him determine his next steps after the MBA. He discovered what he really enjoyed working on: solving messy problems with the potential to make a big impact. Right now, he’s pursuing opportunities that blend marketing, strategy and technology.
“I came out with a great career story that no other intern could beat,” he jokes. “More importantly, I gained a lot of perspective and a strong handle on where I’d like to head next.”
Standing out from the crowd
Other MBA students, like Fernando Najera (MBA ’21), spent their internships helping organizations cope with the new realities of doing business. As an intern with IBM’s client advisory team under the financial services practice during the summer of 2020, Najera supported financial institutions in leveraging technology to embrace the shift to remote work.
Fernando Najera (MBA ’21)
“I had the opportunity to play a role in helping financial institutions navigate the technological challenges brought on by COVID-19,” he explains. “We worked behind the scenes with clients to help them regain operational resiliency and develop a technology-driven approach in reopening branches in a safe manner after the first COVID-19 wave hit Canada”.
Excited by these opportunities and eager to do well, he didn’t hesitate to ask his advisor, Belinda Tang, for advice early on.
"The first question I asked Belinda was ‘what’s the secret to your success?’” says Najera. “It’s hard not to be impressed by what she’s accomplished in her career. I wanted to know how she did it, and how I could achieve that level of success on my own terms.”
Tang has held various executive roles at the IBM Corporation, including VP of leadership, chief diversity officer and VP of human resources for IBM global business services in markets around the world. She gave Najera straightforward advice: to succeed and stand out in a large, global organization, take on the most challenging projects and deliver results.
“Many interns place their initial priority on networking and becoming visible right away; but young leaders shouldn’t lose sight of what they hope to accomplish and the projects their organization have deemed important. To do that, it is helpful to start their internship by focusing on what's important to others in the organization.” Tang explains.
“Young leaders shouldn’t lose sight of what they hope to accomplish and the projects their organization have deemed important."
— Belinda Tang
“With Fernando, it was clear that he had a lot to offer. He had to stay focused on delivering results, that’s the best way to demonstrate his capabilities and get noticed for his skills.”
He did just that. Najera jumped at the chance to serve as a design thinking coach for a team of seven software developers, eventually running design thinking workshops for his own team. He also co-created an innovation agenda with technical leaders, business consultants and industry experts to help clients adapt to current technological trends disrupting capital markets.
He regularly checked in with Tang for advice on best practices, leadership and making an impact. Najera, who had predominantly studied and worked in Taiwan before enrolling in the Full-Time MBA at Rotman, also asked her about working in different markets around the world.
By the end of the summer, Najera had made an impression, and was presented with an offer to return to IBM full-time after graduation, which he was glad to accept.
“Belinda was definitely an integral part of my MBA journey, and for that I will always be grateful to her, he says. “With her help, I really got the most out of my summer internship.”
Finding a way forward
Meredith Baade (MBA ’21) was determined to learn as much as possible during her summer 2020 internship with TD Bank. She credits her positive experience to TD’s leadership team for its commitment to valuing its people, and specifically to her managing director for setting an inclusive culture within the team.
“I am very grateful that everyone made extra effort to make sure I felt like part of the team and that I gained relevant experience while we were all working remotely,” says Baade, then based at her family’s home in Long Island, New York at the time.
Meredith Baade (MBA ’21)
As part of the financial institutions group at the bank, Baade put her hand up to work on projects involving fintech and financial exchanges, in addition to those involving banks, asset managers, and other financial institutions. Having worked with Bloomberg LP for five years prior before starting the Full-Time MBA, she also organized training sessions on the Bloomberg terminal for her fellow interns.
She supplemented these hands-on experiences with conversations with her teammates, with new connections she made at the bank, as well as with her mentor, Ali Salahuddin (MBA ’96).
“My favourite question to ask is always ‘what would you do if you were in my shoes?’” she says. “You get the most honest and helpful answers, and sometimes those answers help reframe your thinking.”
Salahuddin, who has a wealth of experience working in leadership roles at major financial institutions in Toronto, New York and London, was more than willing to answer these and other questions.
“I see being an advisor as a way of saving young professionals from making the same mistakes I have made,” says Salahuddin, a Rotman grad who credits fellow students and professors for guiding him when he was starting out in his career.
“We entered these conversations knowing that we could be candid about not just this internship experience, but about larger questions around career, life and finding direction and purpose.”
These discussions helped Baade chart out a promising post-MBA career plan. Baade was encouraged by her manager and colleagues to explore opportunities within the bank in New York, connecting her to their contacts there. Soon after the internship, she was offered and accepted an associate position in with the corporate and investment banking with TD Securities in New York.
“Above all, I feel very, very lucky. It was a privilege working with such a supportive team at TD and to have Ali as a mentor who could help me identify and evaluate the paths I could take after Rotman.”
The summer taught her a lot about community-building and running effective mentorship programs online. She returned to Rotman in the fall to run the LINKS mentorship program, which pairs Rotman MBA students with female undergraduate students at U of T, and found she had plenty of proven practices to draw from.
“I learned that a key ingredient for a solid mentor-mentee relationship is to have openness, and that openness comes from establishing a psychologically safe space where the mentee feels comfortable communicating,” she says. “Once that’s established, being honest and open about your ambitions and anxieties will significantly enhance the mentorship experience and may even change your life.”
Written by Rebecca Cheung | More Student Stories »