Imagine you were equipped with a comprehensive career guide before even beginning your studies at Schulich.

Now imagine that career guide were geared specifically toward the Schulich student experience, addressing the common struggles and missteps that characterize the modern job search.

Rob Hines and Simon Beck, in partnership with the Career Development Centre (CDC) have done the work of parsing those challenges to produce valuable, actionable chapters in the Ultimate Career Guide. Taking an approach that favours conversational utility, the appropriately named book is an essential read for students new to Schulich.  

 “We’re trying to create a rhythm for students,” says Hines, “and to start doing it early.”

Hines, whose resume includes senior leadership positions at Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and CIBC World Markets, has also held senior operating roles in the executive search industry. His team of certified Career Coaches and Industry Advisors in the CDC represent a wealth of firsthand industry perspectives across the globe that inform their advising at Schulich. Their collective expertise working with students shines in the book’s accessible overview of writing resumes, preparing for interviews, networking with confidence and much more.
young woman steps forward as she is called in for her interview and shakes hands with her possible new employer. Behind her other candidates wait with their resumes.

Part of the book’s unique value is in its starting point. Hines and Beck don’t jump immediately into the art of pitching oneself, or the finer points of studied networking (of course they do this in later chapters, in relevant and practical detail).

Rather, the first chapters take students through the invaluable process of self-definition; a critical first step for a rewarding career trajectory. This includes serious reflection about personal values, detailed company research and a degree of inward honesty. 

 The process is meant to prevent a common misstep that students make. Hines calls this the “passion myth.”

 “Students have a habit of seeing a job and falling in love as a result of common innate biases,” he says.

In Ultimate Career Guide, he cites Wall Street as one such example (26). The glamour of the high paying, fast-paced corporate life has its appeal; but without a proper set of values aligned with this lifestyle, it’s easy to burn out.

The secret to longevity and job satisfaction is no secret, according to Hines. “You have to step back and examine your values.”

The Guide will walk you through it, with an entire chapter dedicated to “Getting To Know Yourself.”

Ultimate Career Guide is available for all Schulich students just in time for the Fall term! View the e-book here. For those participating in MBA Career Kick-Off, you’ll receive your own hard copy to begin preparing for the industry events ahead.

Projecting Presence

If a secret ingredient exists for masterful networking, it might be what the CDC team refers to as “executive presence” or the ability to project “confidence, poise, polish and humility, reflective of an emerging leader” (76). By the end of the Ultimate Career Guide’s seven chapters, students will feel equipped with the strategies and tools needed for the process of achieving and refining their executive presence.  


Why is This a Must-Read?

The book is a masterful combination of:

  • Mic dropping career insights (like Hines’ assertion that navigating the business world “demands the boldness of a battle-hardened general”)

  • Frameworks for understanding career development, from building a toolkit to marketing yourself

  • Practical exercises to get you started, from self-assessment to model resumes, to an illustrated dress code guide (what is “smart casual” anyway?)

  • A rich variety of voices: Enjoy insights and advice from alumni, recruiters and industry advisors


Once students have finished reading their copy, they’ll be equipped to dive deeper with free 1-on-1 coaching from CDC advisors, and to better grow and articulate their five-year plan.

Not sure yet how you want to specialize (or what exactly you want to do?) No problem. The book has strategies to help you get started, and the CDC team is ready to help you begin the process that Hines refers to as “getting unstuck.”

Pick up your copy in person at the CDC or click here to begin an important (and literal) new chapter of your career.