Careers 'R Us

It’s a Wednesday afternoon, and Science Center B is packed. The throngs of students, most of them seniors and juniors, file in and take seats next to unfamiliar faces amid the background noise of a hundred conversations. They’re attending the first of a long string of meetings and info sessions held by the Office of Career Services (OCS) that pave the road to those highly sought-after jobs in consulting and investment banking.

This is the introductory meeting for those who want to participate in OCS’ online recruiting program. The OCS staffers running the event present a slideshow explaining in detail how to register for the online e-recruiting system—contracted to a company interestingly called Experience, Inc.—that puts students in contact with employers and eventually in line for a gauntlet of interviews.

Each year, juniors, seniors, and even some ambitious sophomores flock to the recruiting events held on campus. However, not everyone who attends these events is set on banking or consulting—in fact, many of them have only a vague idea of what their professional future entails and what they can expect in the event that they get hired.

For many, the decision to weather the trials of recruiting is based on the promise of a highly structured, well-paying job that is built around a relatively short two-year commitment. For those who are uncertain about what they want from their long-term careers, recruiting provides a source of structure, an opportunity to plunge into the professional world alongside hundreds of peers, instead of taking those daunting first steps alone. In many ways, it’s college part two, and recruiters know it.

Into the Gauntlet

Last year, 46 percent of Harvard seniors registered for the OCS recruiting program, according to Associate Director of the Office of Career Services Robin E. Mount. This number has a tendency to fluctuate slightly as the business world goes through changes; there’s been a two-percent dip in participation since the dot-com bubble burst.

“Part of it is the economy. When a company or an organization is growing financially they need more people to do their work as well,” Mount says. “Certainly the dot-com boom was a huge start-up sensation. There were some very new companies that were using recruiting, and who, a few years later, no longer existed.”

The process begins with attendance at the mandatory recruiting orientation meeting, where students register for the online recruiting system. Originally developed by a group of Harvard students under the name Crimson Solutions and now under the auspices of Experience, Inc., the program acts almost like a professional version of Facebook.com.

Instead of TV shows and quotations, students post resumes and cover letters online, which can then be accessed by potential employers. OCS acts as the middleman in this process, scheduling interview times and publicizing information sessions, as well as setting down basic rules for what employers can and can’t do. They also host interviews at their facility at 1414 Massachusetts Ave., a venue almost exclusively reserved for recruiters.

According to OCS, students can generally expect to go through two rounds of interviews before receiving an offer. The process continues through the end of the first semester, and some companies hold their first interview dates as late as December.

With online filing deadlines and mandatory meetings and seemingly endless amounts of schmoozing events, the process can be a time crunch for already too-busy seniors. “It’s a rough experience,” says Wojtek Kubik ’07, an economics concentrator in Quincy House. “It’s ridiculously hectic when you’re trying to handle classes—essentially it’s like taking another two classes.”

Emily E. McCoy ’07 has also noticed the way recruiting cuts into her schedule. “I’ll leave, and I won’t eat dinner, and I’ll just be eating the chicken on a stick that they have at the info sessions,” she says. 

Practical Training, Fat Payday 

Although some students who go into the recruiting track know that they want a career in business, others do not share that same certainty. For this set, the idea of a job that is structured around the two-year commitment typical of an analyst or associate is appealing. According to OCS Director Bill Wright-Swadel, students are eager to work for companies “who are not going to be upset that after two years [that they] want to move on.”

“It’s just another step in finding what you’re going to do as a career,” says Kubik, who hopes to eventually attend business school.

While it’s widely understood that consulting and banking firms promise lavish salaries for recent grads, many students say they are motivated less by cash and more by the promise of practical career training.

David Villa ’07 is a senior on the recruiting track who worked as a Citigroup intern this summer.

“Aside from technical skills, you learn a much better understanding of the industry and the marketplace,” says Villa. “I know it sounds trite, but a lot of the stuff we learned in class doesn’t really apply to the real market.”

Students view entry-level jobs as a way to become acclimated to the corporate environment and learn to start thinking like a business person. “It’s a certain way of thinking or approaching problems—a structured way of thinking about the company’s main goals and the obstacles they face in one combined format,” says Miray Topay ’06, who will be starting at Bain and Company later this month. Topay—who got her job through online recruiting last fall—hopes to gain “basic knowledge of finance, accounting, understanding of businesses in general, how they work and what problems they face.”

Some students view consulting as a means to gain exposure to other types of careers through working on cases in different industries. McCoy, a biology concentrator, plans on attending medical school in the future but is leaning towards exploring consulting directly after Harvard.

“What I like about it is that a lot are generalist firms—you get a lot of exposure to a lot of different things,” Topay says. “Hearing what associate consultants have to say at info sessions is that people end up going into work in those industries that they work with.”

Though they have varied attitudes about what their careers will entail, Kubik, Villa, Topay and McCoy all envision themselves as future analysts or associates. Their common pursuit of recruiting highlights the fact these jobs appeal to a wide variety of students and mindsets, not unlike the liberal arts education provided in Harvard Yard.

'It's Way More Fun Than College'

While the intense atmosphere surrounding recruiting meetings is noticeable, some firms seek to present a more welcoming face to students. At the Bain info session last Wednesday at the Charles Hotel, the room was filled with recent Harvard graduates now working as associate consultants. At one point in the presentation, each took a moment to stand and introduce him or herself.

Later on, the presenters showed a video featuring young professionals talking about the company. The video was set to a slightly cheesy guitar rock soundtrack; the associates on screen were quick to point out the positive social dynamic at Bain.

Most strikingly, the video emphasized similarity between college life and working at Bain. One bright-eyed associate describes how he plays for the office soccer team. Another even goes so far as to say, “It’s way more fun than college.” The audience chuckles.

Other companies have also keyed into this strategy, presenting their entry-level positions as a way to ease into the real world from college. According to OCS’ Assistant Director for On-Campus Recruiting Deborah A. Carroll, both Microsoft and Capital One refer to their offices as “campuses” as a way to compare office life to collegiate life. More and more, businesses have begun to incorporate the lifestyle concerns of their young employees.

Students like Kubik tend to notice the strategy. “It almost seems like going to college for another two years, except you get paid,” he says.

“There’s a lot of respect for the fact that if you work hard, you want to be able to let loose and relax,” Carroll says. “For a lot of employers it’s not necessarily about keeping the party going, but instead keeping that sense of camaraderie. The idea is to have some of that social component and that community component.”

A recent Harvard grad working for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, who asked to remain anonymous because she didn’t want to comment publicly about her company, says that her work commitment totals about 60 hours per week. “Lifestyle-wise, it’s very sustainable,” she says. “You have the weekends for yourself.” Not unlike her days in Cambridge.

In addition, firms have begun to take into account the wide variety of professional interests among students, particularly the desire to work for social good. For instance, JP Morgan allows its new analysts to defer employment for two years to participate in Teach For America (see “Those Who Can, Teach?” page 14). Bain, meanwhile, developed The Bridgespan Group, which offers analysis to non-profit organizations, and spun it off six years ago.

Above all, firms hoping to recruit Harvard undergrads take into account students’ unwillingness to commit to one career path early in life. One page of the Bain brochure states, “Bain will open doors for you,” followed by, “you can pursue your career goals—either in business or in endeavors in the arts, education or public sector.” The implication is that Bain’s associate position acts as a stepping-stone for ambitious students whose long-term goals may not lie in the business world.

Looking around Harvard, recruiting is a highly visible part of student life. It is hard not to notice the almost 1 in every 2 students walking through the yard with a pinstripe suit and the high hopes of aceing their next interview. Perhaps the popularity of recruiting can be attributed to the uncertainty many feel about stepping into the real world. The security of a waiting job and a short commitment, coupled with the widely-advertised similarity to college allow recruiters to sweep up students with uncertain futures and business aspirations alike.