How This Harvard Grad Landed his Dream Job at Spotify

When Rodolfo A. Diaz Cabello, a Senior Product Manager at Spotify, first stepped foot onto Harvard Business School, he knew he was passionate about music, but he didn’t know how that passion would pan out as a career.

It would take Cabello—who graduated from HBS in 2021—multiple tries and numerous learning experiences to ultimately land his dream job at Spotify. In a blog post for Harvard’s MBA Voices, Cabello recently reflected on how HBS helped pave the way for his career and offered advice for future MBA students on how to land their dream job.

FOLLOW YOUR PASSIONS

If you know what you’re passionate about, you can utilize that passion to shape your B-school experience. For Cabello, that meant integrating his passion for music into his everyday life at HBS.

“On the professional front, I joined the Entertainment & Media Club, became the VP of Music, and hosted panels with industry veterans to learn more about careers in the music industry,” Cabello says. “Through these events I met executives from music labels, event and music tech companies, and even top artist managers. This allowed me to have a much more nuanced point of view about the types of experiences I wanted to pursue in my summer internship and full-time career after graduation.”

In addition to joining school clubs and attending professional events, Cabello also followed his passion for music socially. He organized concert outings in Boston and fully embraced his hobby for DJing.

“These experiences not only energized me, but also helped me gain unique perspectives that complemented my professional efforts,” Cabello says. “Developing my own presence as a DJ on SoundCloud helped me gain a deeper understanding of the problems creators face in the industry, and the limitations of current technical solutions.”

FIND INTERESTING COURSES

At HBS, Cabello was able to further explore his interests through elective coursework. In his second year, he took courses like The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (BEMS), which gave him a better understanding of the music industry and what opportunities were available to him.

“BEMS taught me the basics of the music industry and how artists monetize through recorded music and live performances,” Cabello says. “Professor Anita Elberse further empowered me and a group of students to gain hands-on experience in the industry through an independent project that helped launch a new pop artist in Australia.”

DEVELOP A NETWORK

Having a strong network from B-school can make all the difference when it comes to finding the right job or opportunity. Cabello credits the HBS network as being the “final ingredient” in helping him to succeed in his journey.

“When I was searching for summer internships in spring 2020, these allies came to my rescue, connecting me to new mentors and opportunities,” he says. “My professors, classmates, and mentors supported me after graduation, advising me on how to leverage the HBS network and its venture capital connections to land interviews with companies I was interested in, and helping me evaluate competing career opportunities.”

Sources: Harvard Business School, Harvard Business School