In this section
Meet your Career Coaching Team
Robyn is a certified career coach with over ten years of experience coaching students through their career exploration and job search journey. Using a co-active coaching approach, Robyn works with students on developing personal branding strategies, crafting professional job search documents, advising on the job search process by leveraging deep knowledge in candidate selection models, and preparing for interviews. She is also an engaging facilitator of career-focused workshops and CliftonStrengths training sessions within Rotman as well as for several professional associations.
Previous to her transition into career coaching, Robyn spent over 10 years in recruitment and HR functions across diverse industries including financial services, insurance, telecommunications, technology, law, and hospitality. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business and Management and is a Gallup certified CliftonStrengths coach.
Cindy has been a career coach for the past 9 years and enjoys building relationships with students from diverse experiences as they enhance or pivot in their career. Guiding and partnering with students has been rewarding as Cindy has witnessed the progressive development in their career management skills. Whether it’s working one-on-one or in groups, Cindy empowers her students to take risks and helps them stay motivated as they pursue their career goals that aligns with their values.
Previously, Cindy has worked in the financial services industry for over 10 years in Human Resources. Her experience entails recruiting at all levels including senior management across multiple functions, compensation & benefits, and consulting with business partners on strategic initiatives, employee relations, and performance and talent management. Cindy holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Business Management degree in Human Resources with a minor in Finance. In her spare time, she loves cheering on her kids as they pursue their passions and the Raptors, Leafs and Jays!
Beti has over 7 years of experience of HR recruitment and has coached candidates in the corporate world as well as recent grads entering the workforce. Her career began in agency recruitment and transitioned to corporate recruiting, with a focus on intermediate to senior level roles. She has a broad base knowledge in various functions and industries, technology, operations, consulting etc. During this time, she also assisted MBA graduates in transitioning from academia to the corporate world by providing coaching on interview techniques, resume writing and providing industry knowledge.
Beti is a certified Holistic Life and Career Coach is currently working toward her Master coaching through the International Coach Federation. She is also certified in Gallup Clifton Strengths, helping students unleash their talents. In addition, to her HR, Beti is a Certified Personal Trainer and boot camp instructor.
Maria consults with MBA students focused on progressing in their current career or pivoting into a new career. She is with them on their Rotman journey as they utilize their strengths to accomplish their career goal. Prior to the Career Services re-organization, she coached full-time MBA students and completed a secondment as the Associate Director of Career Curriculum and Consulting.
Maria has over 9 years of Human Resources experience in the Financial Industry supporting a variety of businesses. In her last role before joining Rotman, Maria worked in the Recruitment & Intake team managing recruiting programs such as the BMO Student Internship Program. She provided advice and support in the career development of over 100 interns across Canada through information sessions, mentor program, career panel discussions and networking opportunities. Maria has always been passionate about career development and her number one goal is to empower students.
Maria holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Human Resources from Ryerson University and has obtained her Certified Human Resources Leadership (CHRL) designation. She also holds a Master of Education from U of T focused on Adult Education and Community Development.
Amy has worked in the career management field for over 10 years and has a passion for helping people identify careers aligned to their values and interests. Having supported individuals with diverse backgrounds and goals through often challenging employment markets, she appreciates the emotional challenges that job search presents. Witnessing successful job search outcomes, regardless of economic conditions, led to her conviction that strong job search strategies achieve good results. She enjoys helping students persevere and stay positive throughout their search.
Previously, Amy worked in the development industry on a number of new projects throughout Toronto, gaining exposure to the recruiting function at this time. She possesses a Bachelor of Commerce from the Rotman School of Management and a Master of Education, specializing in Social Justice Studies. As the parent of two autistic children, Amy is a strong advocate for anyone who requires accommodation to achieve their best life.
Naz is a Career Coach supporting students on their career journey at Rotman. With over 10 years of experience in training and coaching in the financial sector, she brings with her enthusiasm to enrich the student experience in their search for that next, great role. She has experience in coaching undergraduate, graduate and experienced hires in her roles in financial services as well as part of higher education sector. She has also worked as a financial representative, sales manager, performance coach and campus recruiter. In her spare time she enjoys cheering on the Toronto Raptors and reading books by international authors.
Rob has been with Rotman for eight years; Four years working as a member of our employer relations team and four years as a Career Coach. Initially Rob had been focused on developing strategic partnerships with organizations across a number of industries and was thrilled to transition to the student-facing career coaching team. Rob has hosted many employer prep sessions, networking events, and co-facilitated a Job Search Workshop series with faculty instructor Dan Richards. Rob has over 10 years of recruitment experience in the Information Technology, Healthcare, Supply Chain Management, and Non-Profit sectors.
Professional Conduct Agreement (PCA)
The Rotman School of Management has a strong brand aligned to its core values of Diversity, Excellence, Integrity and Respect. Our values guide how we engage with business and society. As part of the Rotman community, students are to adhere to these values at all times during their time at Rotman. Rotman’s Professional Conduct Agreement is in place to help maintain our brand with employers and to encourage professionalism amongst our students. When you create your RCareer profile, the PCA will appear as a pop-up window, requiring you to acknowledge your agreement to the terms before proceeding.
The Professional Conduct Agreement covers:
Career Readiness Video Modules
Winter 2023
Campus Recruitment Sessions (August 2023)
Self assessments
Keep in mind the portions of your previous job(s) you have most enjoyed in the past, what you think you are good at, and what others have indicated you are good at, as well as your motivations for coming to Rotman to do your Masters. We recommend having your current resume and past employment performance assessments/reviews with you as you go through this section.
CareerLeader
Your CareerLeader results can offer you ideas on potential careers that you might not have thought of, so you can follow up and learn more about them. The results may also help you glean insights if you are in a job or career but not fully satisfied. As you review your results, it’s important to not only rely on the career match results. Also focus on your unique combination of interests, skills and motivators – the qualities or goals that inspire or drive you. Your motivators (financial gain, security, etc.) and your skills (communication, quantitative analysis, etc.) are important influencers to your interests, and it’s the blend of these factors that should be considered when approaching your next career move.
Access CareerLeader
*If you have any issues logging in to CareerLeader, please email: career.services@rotman.utoronto.ca
Analyze and Action your CareerLeader Results
Don’t print out your results! You can learn a lot more about yourself by expanding each section online.
From the Home page, explore the Interests, Motivators and Skills sections. Each section has 3 expandable tabs that you can review.
Find out which careers you matched to and why under “My Career Match”. Starting with your top career match, click the black triangle to expand the section. You will see 3 tabs to review: Overview, Key Factors and Learn More.
Finally, what type of organizational culture are you best suited to? Refer to the “Culture Match” section.
Use the CareerLeader Guidelines and Reflection Worksheet as you reflect on each section of your results.
Create a Plan B – an excerpt from CareerLeader’s article, “Don’t Make Your Plan A Your Plan Only”
We can be passionate about a career we envision, convinced that it is our destiny—and then discover that it is not meant to be. It’s not what we thought or hoped. It doesn’t fit in with other changes in our life circumstances. These are not necessarily things that can be foreseen. What is within our control is the ability to be prepared. To not just have a Plan Only, but to also have a Plan B.
The CareerLeader assessment is a valuable tool to help you formulate your Plan B. Your Career Match results may help you to broaden your focus, may suggest careers that you had not considered. But if you are wholly convinced of your path right now, you don’t even have to look there. Consider your Interest assessment results first, and not just the top interest but also the second and the third one on the list. If they don’t really align to the career path you want to follow, explore the reasons why this may be. (Remember: the results are data driven. They are likely to be pretty reliable, and most people’s interests do not substantially change over time.) Then, use your Interests results to think about other possible career paths, should you need a Plan B. If you want to explore those, the Resources section of the CareerLeader website provides detailed descriptions of all the careers measured by CareerLeader, along with descriptions of the interests, motivators and skills that are most common to people who are happy and successful in those careers.
Now, compare your interests to your Skills results, looking to see if there are any particular skill areas that may need some attention should you decide to, or be forced to, shift gears. Building Skills, also located in the Resources section, provides suggestions for ways to improve in all skill areas, not just your top-ranked ones.
You may also want to review your CultureMatch and Watch-Outs, as a “gut check” against the kind of career and even kind of company that interests you. Taking this time, now, is an investment in your future. Just a little reflection and research may keep you from scrambling if life throws you that curveball.
CliftonStrengths
Gallup research proves that people succeed when they focus on what they do best. When they identify their talents and develop them into strengths, people are more productive, perform better, and are more engaged. Gallup’s CliftonStrengths (previously known as StrengthsFinder) assessment is the first step in helping you identify your talents.
The odds of someone having the exact same top 5 Strengths as you in the exact same order is 1 in 33 million, which means your individual results enable you to tap into your unique talents. The CliftonStrengths assessment uncovers which talents you rely on to build relationships, think strategically, execute plans and influence others to accomplish goals. When you know your unique set of these talents, you’re empowered to succeed by doing what you naturally do best. Every. Single. Day.
Curious to learn more about the assessment? Click on the following video.
Access CliftonStrengths
Analyze your CliftonStrengths Results
Upon completion of the assessment, go to the ‘Reports’ tab on the Gallup main dashboard to download your results and read through them thoroughly. The most useful report is called ‘CliftonStrengths Top 5’ which offers personalized results based on how you uniquely answered each question.
Share your results with others (family, friends, partners, colleagues, etc.) to gain their perspective and insight on how they see you using your natural talents.
Refer to the following document for a guide to getting the most from your natural talents and turning them into Strengths. Download the guide.
Harnessing the power of your Strengths
Continue building your knowledge and appreciation of your unique talents, and learn how to intentionally leverage them by using the following tools and resources:
CliftonStrengths Wellbeing series
Many of us have had our wellbeing challenged significantly over the past few years. How can you maintain a thriving wellbeing, or move to a place of thriving, in each of the five wellbeing elements as identified by Gallup – career, social, financial, community and physical? To help people learn how to leverage their top talent themes to become someone who thrives, Gallup has created a new CliftonStrengths Wellbeing webcast series.
Flexible Internship Program (FIP)
Your Flexible Internship journey
The Flexible Internship Program expands the flexibility of the internship and the associated course to be undertaken at any time after the first year of MBA studies. FIP allows students to complete their internship during the summer, fall, or winter terms for the maximum duration of 4 months.
Qualifying Internships must meet the following conditions:
Mapping your electives
Students are required to complete internship, electives, and the Ethics Course during the FT MBA degree. Your ideal scenario will be one in which you do your internship and concurrent course RSM1380: Applied Management – Placement only, which will allow you to focus on your full-time employment during your internship.
RSM1380 (FIP) is completed alongside two (2) elective courses. More information can be obtained at the Registrar’s Office or found here.
Frequently Asked Questions
The FIP FAQs are 20+ questions about the Flexible Internship, ranging from “What is the Flexible Internship?” to “How do I start my own business and complete FIP requirements?” to “What if I don’t find an internship?” and everything in between. Questions about co-op work permits, joint programs and timing are also included. FIP Q&A from Orientation Week can be found by visiting the Registrar’s Office website.
How do I get added to the Internship Course (RSM 1380: Applied Management)?
When you land an internship, please complete your job offer on RCareer. Step-by-step instructions can be found here. As soon as your internship is reported via RCareer, your file is flagged for the Registrar’s Office and you are added into the course in the appropriate term. Once the term starts, you will be able to view the deliverable expectations on the Quercus course page. To view the course outline for summer 2020 (as an example), click here.
Tax Credit Information
Eligible employers in Ontario may claim a refundable tax credit for eligible expenditures up to $3,000 with the Ontario Co-op Education Tax Credit (CETC). For more information on the tax credit and a sharable PDF, please click here. The tax form can be found at this link.
A table containing additional tax credit programs for other provinces and Canada-wide can be viewed at this link.
Have additional FIP questions?
Please send any additional questions to the Program Manager or Course Instructor for the Flexible Internship, or to your Career Coach.
Program Manager, Office of Experiential Learning and Practicum Placement (OELPP)
Course Instructor, RSM 1380 (Flexible Internship Course)
Mark your calendar:
Class of 2025
Summer 2024 term:
Fall 2024 term:
Winter 2025 term:
Watch our webinar
“Getting MAXIMUM Value From Your Internship”
Want to know what students have to say?
Vivian Pow (MBA 2018), and her internship at MLSE
More Student Stories
Juliana Montoya (MBA 2020) About CDL and IBM
Jane Zhang (MBA 2019) and Sugandha Subramanian (MBA 2019) About Their Internship Experience at Toronto Police Services
Gabby Ignacio (MBA 2019) About His Internship at FinHub
Robin Gainer (MBA 2018) About His Internship
Mo Banjoko (MBA 2018) About Her Internship at Hatchery
See past jobs and where students interned
The Where did Students Intern spreadsheet is a valuable tool for networking. In addition, the Internships Jobs Posted on RCareer spreadsheet helps give students a sense of what jobs they can find on RCareer.