Catching my dream job: How B-school helped me level up
By Kalyn Chang ’24 MMM
One of our event themes during my Kellogg pre-orientation trip (KWEST) in Cyprus was “When I Grow Up,” where everyone dressed up as who they wanted to be as a kid. I showed up dressed as Ash Ketchum because I wanted to be a Pokémon Master. Fast forward to my Kellogg graduation, I accepted an offer at Niantic as a game producer for Pokémon GO. Since then, I’ve had countless pinch-me moments wondering: “Is this really my job?”
Before Kellogg, I never would have believed that my first job out of business school would be building fun and engaging experiences for millions of Pokémon GO fans around the world. I feel incredibly lucky to have found a job that brings together my personal passion (a love for Pokémon) with my professional interests and values (building products that bring people together and enrich their lives). I deeply resonate with Niantic’s mission “to inspire people to explore the world, together.”
I’ve had many career highlights during my first year at Niantic. From launching exciting new features and in-game experiences — including a monthly battle pass and three-months’ worth of in-game events and Pokémon debuts — to traveling all over the world to help drive innovation at Pokémon GO.
In Japan, I attended my first Pokémon GO Live Event in Fukuoka, where I conducted user interviews with the help of a Japanese language interpreter. I’ve had the privilege to collaborate with our partners at The Pokémon Company on content brainstorming workshops, and I’ve also supported smooth gameplay and player experiences at more Pokémon GO Live Events in Los Angeles and Paris.
A lifelong passion for Pokémon
My connection to Pokémon started long before I ever thought about business school. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of watching the Pokémon anime and playing the main series games together with my dad. First on my Game Boy, then my Game Boy Advance, and eventually, every console since. I haven’t missed a single main series Pokémon game.
Over the years, Pokémon became a thread that tied different chapters of my life together. During its launch in 2016, my partner and I spent an entire summer exploring parks and playing Pokémon GO together. When a rare Pokémon appeared, it’d send us — and crowds of strangers — cheering and running toward it to catch it.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, my family and I went through a difficult period, including losing my grandmother to the disease. During this time, my partner and I started playing Pokémon GO again in earnest. We even joined a Discord community of fellow Pokémon fans that became a powerful source of connection and support during a time when social interactions were limited.
In 2022, I moved to Evanston to earn my MBA and MS in Design Innovation through the school’s MMM Program, while my partner started the Two-Year MBA Program. We kept playing Pokémon GO and bonded with new friends who played too. In one of my favorite full-circle moments, my partner proposed in Paris with a ring inside a Poké Ball.
Discovering direction and landing my dream job
Kellogg gave me the time, space and frameworks to reflect deeply about what my dream job could be – and the confidence and clarity to pursue it. One of the most transformative courses I took was Professor Jodi Glickman’s Selling Yourself and Your Ideas. Through the course, I explored how others perceived me, identified the qualities I wanted to strengthen, and learned the power of storytelling in both personal and professional settings. Before taking the course, I never would have imagined mentioning Pokémon in my resumé, elevator pitch and LinkedIn bio.
Professor Glickman’s course helped me feel comfortable bringing Pokémon into my professional story. Doing so made my story feel more authentic and more me. The stories we tell about ourselves can shape the opportunities we attract and drive the outcomes we strive for.
The class also reframed my idea of networking and gave me opportunities practice. For one assignment, we were asked to send a cold outreach email to a high-profile leader and ask for a meeting. While I never heard back, that exercise removed my fear of cold outreach, paving the way for the cold message that would later land me my dream job.
Another formative experience was studying abroad at INSEAD Singapore for one quarter. Immersed in a new country and the most diverse student cohort I’d ever been a part of, I learned to approach problem solving through a truly global lens. My experience reaffirmed my desire to work for a global company on a product that reaches users all over the world.
During my last quarter at Kellogg, Professor Paul Corona’s Personal Leadership Insights helped me further clarify my strengths, values and aspirations. One of my favorite parts of the class was crafting my personal vision and creating a development plan for how to get there. One of my goals in my action plan was to “get a job offer that I’m excited about” and one of my desired outcomes was to “start a new job in the next 6 months.”
In one of my one-on-one coaching sessions offered through the course, Professor Corona coached me through creating a framework to think through what “a job offer that I’m excited about” meant for me. That exercise helped me feel confident in my decision when I received the offer to join Niantic less than a month later!
The school’s Career Management Center was instrumental in helping me execute on my action plan and land a job. I leaned on Career Peers, a group of second year students who provide peer-to-peer support, to help me refine my networking strategy and practice mock interviews. My Job Action Group became a weekly support group.
We kept each other accountable by setting goals and sharing progress updates, supported each other through setbacks, and celebrated each other’s wins – all under the guidance of a career coach.
Last but not least, my own career coach, Megan Thomas, was an invaluable mentor throughout my entire time at Kellogg. I started working with Megan when I first matriculated at Kellogg, and she guided me through internship recruiting, my full-time job search, and even my job offer acceptance, helping me stay grounded and confident along the way.
Looking back, every class, conversation, and reflection brought me closer to understanding who I am, what excites me, and where I want to make an impact. So, I’ll leave you with this question: What would your dream job be if you followed what excites you most?
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