On campus and off
Pyotr Ostapenko, a student at Chicago GSB (Chicago, USA):
- Back in September, on the first day of my studies at the school, the head of the student employment department (here it is called the Office of Career Services), Julia Morton, happily informed us: “Last year we received complaints from first-year students that employers start coming to the business school to select students too early and prevent them from focusing on their studies. We decided to meet you halfway, and this time, presentations by employers for first-year students seeking summer internships will begin on October 23. And for second-year students seeking permanent jobs – tomorrow.” This was a complete surprise to me! One of the reasons I chose the two-year MBA program was the opportunity to concentrate on my studies, leaving thoughts of work aside for a while. Alas, I only managed to forget about it for four weeks… And we were still lucky – last year, the kids started looking for internship placements from the very first day of school! How does this search proceed? Two options are possible: so-called on-campus and off-campus recruiting.
This year, by my count, about 150 companies came to our campus. The interaction goes like this: in October–November, employers hold presentations at the school (large employers hold separate presentations for different departments), often followed by informal events – dinner, cocktails, or breakfast. Such meetings, on one hand, allow students to learn more about the company and the summer internship program it offers, and on the other hand, provide an opportunity to make a good impression on potential employers.
Then companies announce the deadline for submitting resumes – usually in December. In January–February, they announce those who are invited for interviews, come to the business school a second time, and “interview” selected students. By the way, unlike some other business schools, in Chicago you can get an interview even without an invitation from the employer.
After the interview, the company may either announce its decision immediately (as investment banks and consulting companies usually do) or take a pause for reflection (lasting up to a month). When making an offer, the employer immediately informs how much time there is to make a decision. Typically, they give from two weeks to two months; during this period, you can continue to communicate with other employers. But once you inform the company that “I am all yours,” the student must stop searching – unless they plan to do internships in two places, which happens extremely rarely.
Depending on the industry, the search for an internship placement has a number of features. This process is perhaps most aggressive in investment banking. When in September it was time to choose partners for joint homework preparation, a second-year acquaintance advised not to include in the group people who want to go into investment banking: “Soon they will drop out of the learning process for a long time, and you will have to do all the work yourself.” At first I didn’t believe it, but in reality it turned out to be exactly that. They prefer presentations and lunches with company representatives to attending lectures and preparing for classes. By the way, during these presentations, bankers freely communicate with students gathered around them (sharp tongues have dubbed this the “circles of hell”). If during such communication you manage to show your interest and knowledge of the industry, the chances of being invited for an interview increase sharply (and vice versa). Overall, more than 60% of students find internships through on-campus recruiting.
But by the end of February, the massive influx of companies to the school subsides, and about 40% of students are still unemployed. Some do this deliberately – for example, companies operating in private equity traditionally recruit interns in April–May. And some are just unlucky. In any case, there is no need to despair. First, students continue to receive email notifications with vacancies from employers that do not come to the business school (up to 40 vacancies per day!); second, you can search for a job on your own, using the vast databases of Career Services or contacting directly any of the 40,000 alumni of our business school working around the world. Not surprisingly, almost 100% of students find internship placements. By the way, compared to other business schools, we traditionally have more students going into finance.
I won’t hide it: preparing for interviews took a lot of my time, which negatively affected the learning process. Attending presentations and other events, writing resumes and cover letters, searching for information about employers, and countless mock interviews with second-year students and Career Services staff – you can’t list everything. But the interview process itself (preceded by three months of preparation) took only one week, after which I had offers from three investment banks in London, as well as from BP and Chevron. After thinking it over, I chose the investment bank Lehman Brothers, specifically the group working in natural resources. This is where my 10-week internship will begin.
Overall, the practical experience of our course is going well: more than half of the students had accepted job offers by early March, and most of them had to choose from several decent options. And many second-year students also received employment offers after graduating from school. But let's not forget: now the demand for MBA students is very high, the downturn that began in the 1990s is over. Julia Morton confirms: 'Companies are so actively seeking promising talent that we are currently discussing options to optimize employers' activities so that it does not interfere with the academic process. I know that other leading business schools (in particular, Harvard and Stanford) are also concerned about this. As for the future – the labor market is always difficult to predict, but I see no signs of a worsening situation. Of course, it won't last forever, but today's applicants should not be afraid of that. We will help our students find jobs regardless of market conditions.'
I can only confirm Julia's words. We are taught not only to manage business but also to sell ourselves to employers. Some even believe that this is the main reason to study in an MBA program.
Dreams Come True
Anton Akimenko, student at IESE (Barcelona, Spain):
- The process of recruiting students for summer internships is perhaps one of the central activities at IESE during the first semester. And in many cases, it proves detrimental to the academic process. On the one hand, it's great that investment banks, consulting firms, and pharmaceutical companies (IESE has a very good reputation, especially among the latter) engage in fierce competition for future employees from the very first days of study. On the other hand, endless presentations, lunches, cocktails, and other events up to yacht trips do not go without a trace.
Employers' desire to attract the best from the very beginning leaves students no choice – the lists of candidates for interviews in IB (investment banking) and consulting are already formed by the end of November. And the chaos of new impressions sweeps up even those who never thought or even vowed (due to the grueling schedule) to work in these fields. Freshmen rush headlong to edit résumés, write cover letters, and cram corporate finance, even though according to the program, this course is scheduled for the third semester. The desire of former bankers to retrain as consultants and, conversely, of consultants to become bankers, along with many people's categorical rejection of both professions, creates even more confusion. The result is frayed nerves, a couple of 'C' grades (four 'C's in a year are enough to be expelled from the program), a decision to drop out of the MBA, several divorces from wives and even more breakups with girlfriends, and quite possibly – not a single interview in the bag due to increased competition fueled by the hype.
Moreover, most industrial companies typically recruit students for summer internships in the spring, when they have real projects for the summer. And students who receive an offer from IB or consulting must accept or reject it within a month, so they have no time to consider other, possibly better options (advice for those who still want to work in consulting firms: often directly contacting the local office is more effective than applying through the school).
Torn between studies, family, and the uncertainty of choosing between IB and consulting, I ultimately sacrificed cocktails and yacht trips in favor of the basics of accounting and statistics – they caused me certain difficulties because they were not at all related to my first degree. However, a tendency to seasickness and caring for my daughter also partly justified this decision. But in the end, my reluctance to work in IB or consulting played into my hands. Of course, I had to worry when in early January 2007 several large employers rejected my application, but by the end of February everything worked out. I will be doing an internship in the Netherlands, in the department of corporate finance and strategic planning of one of the largest petrochemical companies – Basell. I had wanted to work in the raw materials industry since my university days (my thesis was on ferrous metallurgy), but previously there was no such opportunity – I lacked, among other things, knowledge in finance.
Back to studies. Be prepared that in the second semester motivation drops sharply – the overexertion of the first three months takes its toll. Observing my classmates, I noticed that the composition of students who actively participate in discussions gradually changes. Those who used to always raise their hands now barely utter a word. Meanwhile, many who were initially shy about speaking are increasingly voicing their opinions. Such temporary relaxation is very dangerous. From my own experience, I know that once you fall behind in a subject at the beginning of the semester, it is very difficult to catch up, especially when it comes to quantitative disciplines. Many confessed at the end of the semester that they were afraid of failing the exam in one course or another because they had been too relaxed at the start of the year.
By mid-February, I began to understand how much the perception of a subject depends on the teacher – I suddenly developed a fantastic interest in almost all financial disciplines that had previously caused me concern. At the same time, I grasped the logic behind scheduling certain courses. It is physically almost impossible to fit all financial disciplines into one semester – especially given how different the students' previous experience is. Therefore, the operations management course is balanced with a negotiation course, and the capital markets course is balanced with a marketing course. In this way, the school evens out the students' workload throughout the year.
Now I expect to finish learning Spanish, although, apparently, I am still far behind my wife. At least, when she accidentally slammed the apartment door shut (keys and daughter remained inside), she managed to call the firefighters to rescue the child. And Lena had only studied the language for about two months before arriving in Spain (English is not held in high regard in this country). So that's a feat! However, we are generally unlucky with keys. Two days before the exams, we were robbed at a sports center (they took a bag from a locker), and the next day we lost the duplicate keys. So instead of preparing for operational finance, we had to sunbathe on a bench in the park, waiting for the landlords to return from the Costa Brava beaches. Fortunately, this did not affect the exam results. By the way, information for those who want to work in Spain: replacing a door lock costs €340 for 40 minutes of work. And no MBA, sleepless nights, or grueling preparation is required for a locksmith.
We have begun to get used to life in Barcelona. The traditional siesta and hustle and bustle no longer irritate us as much, nor do the shops closed on weekends. Since the beginning of September 2006, there have been fewer than ten rainy days (or rather, rainy hours). The city, though noisy (there are clearly more scooters than cars), is very compact: ten minutes and you are in the center. Walks along the night streets are safe and bring a lot of pleasure. And despite the fact that initially we planned to return home immediately after receiving the diploma, we are beginning to think about staying in Europe. Or even heading to America or Asia.