For Job-Seeking MBAs, Alumni May Be the Answer
With fewer jobs available through on-campus recruiting and job boards,
alumni networks are becoming more critical
By Anne VanderMey
For Alex Cavallini, the financial crisis hit home as he was preparing to
begin a job with Cummins
Inc. (CMI)
Less than 24 hours before he was set to fly out to his new office, the diesel
engine manufacturer rescinded his offer, leaving the recent graduate
jobless—even though just a few months before he had his pick of offers from two
companies. "I felt like I was losing two jobs at once," he says.
So Cavallini turned to his school, which turned to Brian Hancock, a
vice-president at Whirlpool whom Cavallini had worked for and impressed during
his internship the summer before. As important as that good impression,
Cavallini says, was that Hancock was a fellow alumnus of Brigham Young
University. The alum sympathized with Cavallini's plight, and placed a call that
afternoon to the CEO of a Whirlpool supplier. Company executives interviewed
Cavallini within days and then offered him a job. He accepted, and in less than
a week the 28-year-old went from being unemployed to being upwardly mobile.
The MBA alumni network is an integral part of the package at most business
schools. Stories like Cavallini's, involving an alumnus making a crucial
introduction or putting in a good word, were never uncommon, but they're
becoming increasingly critical as companies tighten their belts and more
traditional recruitment forums such as career fairs run dry.
An old saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," rings
particularly true as recruiters are deluged with qualified applicants and
seemingly flawless résumés get lost in the shuffle. But even absent a
professional connection, schools are turning toward alumni as a source for fresh
job offers, relying on the foundation of trust many school networks
automatically confer. InCircle, an alumni networking site used at several U.S.
schools, reflects a common sentiment with its revision of the old axiom: "It's
not who you know," InCircle's slogan says, "it's how you know them."
Kevin Knox, director of the alumni association at Southern Methodist
University's Cox School of Business, puts it even more directly: "The network
has never been more important."
THE OLD COLLEGE TRY
The exact number of job offers that come through alumni contacts is hard to
measure and varies from school to school. In a recent survey by the Graduate
Management Admission Council, 28% of MBA graduates reported receiving their
first job offer as a result of networking. Kristin Irish, deputy director of
career development at the Yale
School of Management, cautions that that number may be artificially low, as
networks play such a fundamental role in the job search that their role is
sometimes overlooked. At Notre Dame University's Mendoza
College of Business, Patrick Perella, director of MBA career development,
estimates that about 50% of students get a job through an alumni connection.
Given the recent slump in recruiting, he says, "That number can only go up."
Perella isn't alone in his prediction. As the nation faces the highest
unemployment levels in a quarter century, many schools are looking to offset
decreases in recruiting with job leads from alumni. At the University of
Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Director of Career Management Michelle Antonio
says about 40% of offers come through formal, school-organized events like job
fairs. This year, she said, that ratio could flip, with 60% of offers coming
from other sources—primarily networking.
Across the country, schools are attempting to help that process along with
appeals to alumni to come together in the wake of the financial crisis. At
Wharton, Dean Thomas Robertson sent a letter to all alumni seeking input, and
career services will reach out to all alumni clubs—not a new tactic, Antonio
said, "but it will clearly be more critical than ever this year."
At Notre Dame, career services recently finished a "phone-a-thon," contacting
150 MBA alumni working in sectors likely to receive stimulus funds, as well as
the government itself. And at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School
of Business, Dean Richard Lyons penned an open letter asking alums to look
"deep into your organizations" for jobs, signing off with the entreaty: "Hire
Haas!" The letter, says Haas' Executive Director of Career Services Abby Scott,
yielded 14 new job postings in just 24 hours.
"People like to be asked," says Dipak Jain, dean of Northwestern University's
Kellogg School of Management. Kellogg has conducted a targeted
outreach to alumni in certain fields, but hasn't yet sent out a mass mailing.
The school, like many others, has also redoubled support for struggling alumni,
and plans to offer more services to bring them back to campus, where they can
both regroup and connect with current students. Says Jain: "We need them as much
as they need us."
A TWO-WAY STREET
Alumni networking has its perks for employers as well. Given the dismal
market for MBA hires, many recruiters find themselves with hundreds of résumés
for just a few slots. For online applications, it can be even worse.
The logical next step is to limit the applicant search through networks
"rather than getting a thousand applications from every average Joe out there,"
says Wharton's Antonio. It's easier for many employers to single out a few
people who are qualified and come recommended, instead of opening the search
more widely. "Of the opportunities that do exist, which are obviously fewer and
farther between, a lot of those will never hit a job board," she says.
G.R. Christon, a senior director at crisis-management firm Alvarez
& Marsal and a graduate of the Cox
School of Business at Southern Methodist University, says he contacted his
alma mater when his firm was set to take on new recruits simply because he knew
they would have a list of qualified résumés ready for him. "Putting ads in the
paper or on Monster.com is kind of inefficient for us," says Christon.
An added benefit to recruiters is a network's reliability, especially in an
economic climate where making a hire is taking a gamble. "It does help lower the
risk when you can use [your contacts] to check into what you're getting," says
Greg Bolino, a partner at Accenture
(ACN)
and chairman of the University of Michigan's Ross School
of Business's alumni board of governors. At the consulting firm Business
Talent Group, Vice-President Michelle Cline, a graduate of the Stanford
Graduate School of Business, says the firm regularly seeks out talent
through alumni networks, and hires largely along those lines. Once she has the
recommendation from a person whose judgment she trusts, "There's not much more
that I need," she says.
Of course, almost without exception, employers caution that a diploma doesn't
automatically confer connections. It's far more effective to build genuine
relationships, and only later ask for a job. Those who don't heed that rule are
eyed suspiciously, employers say. It's better to start earlier, or just ask for
career advice or an informational interview. In those cases, says Bolino: "It's
easy for me to say yes because somebody said yes to me."
"A LITTLE BIT OF PANIC"
As for students, the writing is on the wall. Formerly casual networking
events have become a little more tense—with more industry-related introductions
and swapping of business cards. At the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, Senior Alumni Affairs Director Tracey
Pavlishin says she's seen more professional connections made at the school's
alumni-student gatherings—which include such things as happy hours, wine
tastings, and golf outings—even though that's rarely the core purpose of the
events.
At the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Associate Vice-President
of Career Services Kip Harrell says there's been about a 50% increase in the
number of students asking for alumni contact information since last year—meaning
more requests than ever. Harrell, who is also the director of the MBA Career
Services Council, says he advises students to dress professionally every day on
the off chance they run into someone on campus who might serve as a professional
connection. He's made a point to call students when alumni visit him, saying:
"Whatever you're doing, drop it and get over here to talk to Jim, or Tony, or
whomever it may be."
"You see a little bit of panic on everybody's faces," said Mary Lousteau, a
first-year MBA at the Robert H.
Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, who has been
organizing events for students and alumni in the marketing sector. She has two
potential leads on internships—both through her work setting up alumni events.
"It's becoming more important as students realize the reality that some of those
opportunities are filled up," she says.
Most students realize their networks will be more crucial this year than ever
before and are preparing accordingly—whether it be joining the business
networking site LinkedIn, perfecting their golf technique, or methodically
mapping out extended networks on Excel spreadsheets. Lousteau said the
internship search sometimes takes precedent even over her wedding planning.
Even though many MBAs obsess over their networks, it may not do them much
good. In the wake of sweeping cross-sector layoffs, MBA alumni aren't always in
a better position than students. "More people are going to look for alumni for
those connections," Harrell said. "But whether they prove more fruitful than
they have in the past remains to be seen."
Here, view
a slide show of the schools with the most active alumni networks and a video
describing the importance of alumni networks.
Anne VanderMey is a B-schools writer at
BusinessWeek.
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