Dennis Weidenaar was disappointed, like we all were, to fall out of Business Week's Top 25 in 1996. And we addressed the problems immediately, through a series of action committees that covered everything from curriculum to placement and other areas.

In the placement areas, we have a lot of student involvement built into our program. For example, we actually have eight graduate assistants -- four second years and four first years -- who work with us, and stay here for their two years here. There is a constant mentoring process among that group, and we don't have to train them on the ins and outs of the placement process. The other advantage of having the graduate assistants is that these are students who are out there with other students. They know what the student body is talking about, how they're feeling, where the pressures are, and advise us accordingly. That's been a real boon for us.

Have you worked more closely with the students over the past couple of years to further integrate them into the job search process?

I think that the student involvement has always been there. In general we get to know our students more because our student body is smaller than most of our peer programs. In fact, on our staff we have no counselors as such. Myself and our associate director do the vast majority of the one-on-one counseling with students. So, I think students learn more about what we do and why we do it than they may at larger programs.

Indeed, Krannert's total, full-time student population numbers just 376 people, the third smallest in Business Week's Top 25. Does that size allow your office to shower greater individual attention on your students?

We believe that we're still very leanly staffed. There are certain activities in the placement business, as you know, that have no relationship to the size of the student body, such as drumming up more companies to come to campus. But we operate with what we have, and, by necessity, we work one-on-one with the students.

Then just two people handle the student counseling, along with the graduate assistants?

Yes. Of the eight graduate assistants, two work on Web technology projects, two are involved with our international population, and four are involved in the rest of the operations and special events. Then, the director, the associate director, and a recruiting coordinator, who is the first point of contact with companies, constitutes the entire staff.

Is the school planning to cap its size at 380 students, or is it going to enlarge it, like many other school have done recently, over the next couple of years?

For the last couple of years, and for several years into the future, we are looking to grow the program in a modest way. Where we have been admitting about 180 MBA students a year, we would like to see that number ultimately climb to somewhere between 225 and 250, without sacrificing quality. Without sacrificing quality means we will go slowly. And my personal opinion is that [250-person per class goal] is achievable in a quality way in about four years.

Does Krannert plan to grow its staff in concert with its student increase? (Editor's note: Currently, 75 resident faculty and 8 visiting faculty teach Krannert's 376 students.)

I think that will happen. And as far as our plans for growth, they were set in motion over two years ago. Meanwhile, the quality part has come along nicely as well in terms of our recent GMAT averages, grade-point averages, work experience, and age are concerned. (Editor's note: Krannert's Class of 2000 average GMAT score was 623 -- second lowest in BW's Top 25; its average GPA was 3.3; its average amount of work experience was four years; and its average age was 27.) So it appears to be going the way it was intended.

Overall, I think the intimate nature of Krannert is a real plus. We do get involved directly with the students and can converse directly with recruiters about problems or opportunities that may arise. There are a lot of things that our staff, the faculty, and students like about the student-body size. The only downside is that we're probably unable to attract some companies because they can't fill enough schedules to make it worth their travel to cover Krannert.

In fact, our records indicate that Krannert's second-year on-campus recruiter pool held steady at 91 for both the '97 to '98 and '98 to '99 recruitment seasons.

Right. It has leveled off. In the current season for those companies that are recruiting second-year MBA's, we're standing at 94. It's come up very slightly on the second-year side. But you're correct, there has been a leveling off in the number of companies coming to recruit here. We're seeing a leveling off in the average number of schedules per company as well. But this leveling off is still at a high level. And I don't know how to predict the future, but we have, probably, as many companies in absolute numbers as we can comfortably manage. Our issue really is more in company mix and industry mix.

The situation for first-year recruiting is a bit more concerning -- last year, only 36 companies came to West Lafayette looking to fill their summer-internship positions. Has the school made any headway in expanding those limited internship opportunities?

I would say that five years ago, internship opportunities were a weakness of the program, and we've worked very hard on that. In fact, one of the reasons that we added our associate director three and half years ago was to beef up our efforts on both internships and on assisting international students. When we started [doing outreach to attract more internship recruiters], we were looking at roughly 15 companies. Last year -- you're right -- we attracted 36 companies. And so far this year, we're at 46, so there is definite growth. We've seen close to a 30% increase in the companies recruiting interns, and, of course, we're delighted.

Is that the result of your new associate director's concerted effort to woo new companies to Krannert?

It's a result of the hard work of the staff and the students. I think most of the companies who are recruiting interns are already here for second-year students. We have a handful of companies who come only for interns, and that number may grow over the next few years. But, we're really working with our current company base as far as the intern side is concerned. Our associate director has been a tremendous help in putting together a lot of resources that you would expect to find at a quality business program and in stimulating the student body to attack the internship search.

For example, we have seminars in the late fall and about this time of year concerning the intern job search. The reason we do that is that a lot of first-year students are pretty nervous about their first job search, mostly because they see the second-year students holding offers -- the vast majority of them -- by Christmas. And, of course, our intern cycle comes later, and intern offers tend to be the heaviest in March. So, first years start getting very nervous about that. And those who have not started a self-directed search are especially nervous.

The seminars that we hold for intern candidates in late fall and early winter are of the sort where we partner with students to inform them about the companies that have recruited for internship positions here in the past, and let them know where they can find internship and job search-related information on our Web site. The seminars also touch on what one can expect in terms of salary and the expectations on just getting the internship. Then, in late January/February, we offer more seminars that everyone can participate in but that are especially tailored toward those who don't have an internship lined up yet. We want those students to come into our office and find out why they're having a tough time.

Remember, most intern offers come in March, so students shouldn't be in a panic if they don't have something in hand by January or February. So, the purpose of the January/February first-year programming is to have first years listen to the different ways that their fellow students, both first and second years, were successful on their intern search. Also, it's always a good idea to come to the meetings and be reminded where all of the resources are.

Through our efforts, we also really try to motivate the students to open the self-directed search and to continue to take advantage of whatever is happening on campus. I'd say that maybe 50% to 60% of the internships come as a result of something that we do in this office, whereas for full-time hires, it's probably 70% to 75%. Meanwhile, the summer internships generated by the placement office in the last three years has ranged from 57% to 72% of the total amount of opportunities. For full-time hires, the placement office has generated 71% to 74% of the entire number of placement opportunities.

When do you start teaching the incoming class about the resources your office has to offer and about the expectations they should have?

We basically deliver our expectations during the summer before they arrive. We let students know that we operate a lot of our processes through the Web site [www.mgmt.purdue.edu/mpo], and they should access that and become familiar with it. We provide instructions on resume writing and ask that they begin a draft and also give them a calendar for the placement events that will happen during the first six weeks of the semester.

We made a decision a few years ago to front-load most of the job-search education into the first six weeks of the first year. That's largely because I think my peers will tell you that attention spans are shorter during the second year. Moreover, with the advent of more intern opportunities, it's important that we start quickly. So first of all, we have a general orientation to the placement office to explain, for instance, our new computerized interview sign-up system. Also during that seminar, we make sure that students are familiar with what we've put on the Web site and why. That kind of effort follows, in early September, with our job-search seminar speaker, where we bring in a professional job-search counselor and resume writer who has published nationally to talk about the dos and don'ts to the students. That's basically a two-day required event that really helps when everyone is busy and stressed. Then we have a couple of other seminars through the month of September, which vary from year-to-year.

At the end of September is our on-site career-assessment conference, followed by our on-site job fair. Started three years ago, the career-assessment conference is not for companies to showcase themselves, but rather for them to help explain the ins and outs of the different career paths and functions that our students [are interested in]. Usually we cover five or six functions, each represented by three companies who send delegates to attend the conference as panelists. And, of course, we try for a balance between manufacturing, service, consulting, operation, MIS, finance, marketing, and HR. So, for the finance section, for example, we may have a representative from a manufacturing, banking, and service organization, each talk for 20 minutes about how the finance function is organized in their company. Then, they'll sit as a panel for another 20 minutes to do a Q&A.

After that six week period, we give the first years some breathing room. And then in October, we go immediately to the first-year resume reviews and second-year [on-site] recruitment is in full swing.

Alan, having been in your position at Krannert for the last seven years, have you found it necessary to run the type of programming you've just described earlier in the year to ready your students for the recruiters who seem to be arriving at school campuses earlier and earlier?

Absolutely. Seven years ago, we were sending out both first and second-year resume books in early October, and it was a problem because we were running the resume review process after [the companies] were here. Now, with the front-load on resume writing and such things, the resumes are in better shape during the first year, and we actually start the process for collecting second-year resumes at the end of the first year. To make a long story short, this year we went to the printers with the resume books on the second week of August.

Is that a testament to how competitive the MBA hiring landscape has become?

It is. And I think we were behind the curve at one point on having that information out. When the Web technology came along and we realized that we could post online resumes there, it gave us some relief. But since we expect those sources [the Web and the print resume books] to be twins, we went ahead and moved everything up so that by the time the students arrive, the company's had the resume books in hand and could see most of the class on the Web site as well.

Those efforts seem to be paying off... Last year, for example, each student in Krannert's Class of 1998 received an average four job offers apiece -- the most in Business Week's Top 25 grouping. Are you seeing the same number of offers being put on the table this go round?

So far this year, there has been a fractional decrease in the number [of job offers] that we've calculated. But, what we're seeing for this season is based so far on approximately 30 returns from our students.

I'm going to say that compared to last year, the average job offers among the first 30, is down about 5%. Coming off the numbers that we had, I don't consider that significant. But I do think that it could point to a continuing trend in terms of the overall economy and how long the euphoria might last.

One area of the school that last year's Krannert grads were particularly satisfied with was the career-services office. The office enjoyed a 97% placement rate by graduation, and grads received an average 98% increase in their base salaries prior to entering business school -- from $34,300 to $67,700. Moreover, 20% of the class received stock options. What types of new things are you now hitting upon to help students garner similar returns for 1999?

That's a good question. I think students that look at past results are enthusiastic, but the past results are no promise of future results, so we're always mindful of that. There are changes in the economy that we watch and sometimes are concerned about. And the students and our applicants often ask the question: "Where do you think we're going to be in a couple of years?"

What we have done, and what we are doing and will continue to do that probably makes the biggest difference is constantly communicate with our students to keep them involved. Every student, of course, has an E-mail account and over a period of about two years, we've managed to convince the students to check their E-mail daily. We deliver huge amounts of information about placement process opportunities via E-mail on a fairly regular basis. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, the Web site has been a real boon -- there is a lot of useful public information there. And the amount of private information there may be less than some other schools, but there are some private areas that we run internally that have a lot of information on them as well.

So the mindset we're trying to create is: Check your E-mail, and then turn right around and go to the Web site for the information that it has. E-mail and the Web site are a one-two punch that we've hit on over and over and over again.

Alan, you've been talking about the central role the Web plays in Krannert's placement philosophy. At the top of our conversation, you mentioned the school implementing a new computerized interview sign-up system. Does the Internet play a role in that interview bidding system?

We actually don't have a bidding system, per se -- that's a function of the small class size. By the time the students and the companies exert their preferences, the competition for a lot of the schedules is less than you would think. In fact, in some past years, students have actually voted down a formal bidding system.

This new system provides students a way to sign-up for an interview online. What happens is we announce a company's sign-up date a week in advance, and if students want to be on that company's schedule they know to get on their keyboards at 7:40 in the morning to sign-up for an interview slot -- it's first come, first serve. If you're on a closed schedule, you can use the system to go in and accept the closed-list invitation and pick a time to sit down with a recruiter, or you can decline the spot outright.

Then, the next phase is the overflow phase, where we require companies to reserve two alternate spots for students. As I mentioned, in past years students have voted down elaborate bidding systems. This year, however, we're trying out something called the Trump System, where each first year is given two "trumps" to bid their way on an overflow schedule. Again, it's a first come, first serve process. So since we require two open, alternate spots, there have to be two other people who trump faster than you for you not to secure a place on an interview list. So far, it remains to be seen whether we'll extend the Trump System to second years.

Are Krannert's 94 second-year recruiters generally pleased with the new sign-up system?

This is really the first full season for the system, and so there are some bugs that we're working out. But I think in many cases, we've been able to deliver quicker and more accurate services. Yes, in some cases there have been some glitches, but I think that will dissipate over time.

The companies really don't see the system. What they do see, however, is a full schedule of names coming back to them, and that's what they want to see. Also, what the sign-up system allows us to do is get employers their schedule information faster.

In Business Week's 1998 rankings project, employers were impressed with the Krannert grad's technology and operation skills, rating them 10th and 6th best in BW's Top 25, respectively. Do you feel the school has carved a niche in those two employment sectors?

We've had a long standing reputation as an operations school that primarily caters to manufacturers, and part of that is due to our emphasis on technology. In fact, a very high percentage of our incoming students have tech undergrad degrees. Meanwhile, the quantitative emphasis of the program really runs throughout the curriculum -- I don't really think that's changed. Most of the recruiters who come here still appreciate our strength in technology and the quantitative aspects of the program, but a lot of other things have changed. In terms of industry, we have some tremendous diversity here that we probably haven't been given credit for at this point.

Last year, 36% of our students were placed, collectively, in the service industries -- and perhaps two-thirds of those who went into the service industries did so working with consulting firms. The rest went into manufacturing.

Do most of Krannert's recruiters hail from the Midwest?

Our recruiters come from everywhere. Sometimes we'll have an East Coast company coming here, and perhaps the next year they'll send a representative from a Midwest facility of the same company. But since we deal mostly with large companies that have a national presence, they tend to have the ability to place students in various regions of the country, and to some extent, overseas as well.

Where was Krannert's Class of '98 placed geographically?

This is a good story for us. Last year, less than half of our students placed in the Midwest -- it was 44%. Fifteen percent of our students went to the western and mountain states. A total of 20% went to the East Coast. And then, the rest went to the South and Southwest.

That [branching out] trend has held up for the past three or four seasons. Once we went under 50% in the Midwest, then we saw this collection of placements on both coasts. That was very gratifying for a school that has traditionally been viewed as a deep midwestern school.

Speaking of branching out and diversifying the number and types of recruiters that get to meet Krannert students first hand, are there any companies that you are targeting to bring to campus?

For second years, we have one company recruiting here for every 1.25 students who are seeking employment. It would be somewhat difficult for us to manage many more companies, so again, we're looking at the industry mix, and, to some extent, we have achieved some good things. For example, several years ago, we might have placed about 7% of the class in consulting. For the class of '98, it was 22%. I think a number of consulting companies have looked at the Krannert profile -- the technology, the quant, and so forth -- and seen strengths that others have seen. Those strengths have been very appealing.

You spoke of the technology backgrounds that many Krannert students possess. Are you seeing any perks in the packages that Krannert grads receive as a result of their quant backgrounds?

There's clearly a premium that the companies pay for students who have more than three years of work experience and students who have the tech undergrad degree. Krannert students have an average of four years of professional work experience that includes significant internship and co-op experience. So, three years and up with a tech BS is a pretty nice combination. Last year, that resulted in a pretty nice bump, on the average, for students who had that, though it's probably not as much as people think. I think that the bump is somewhat modest because companies can only go so high with their salaries due to the huge amount of [internal salary] compression.

Indeed, last year's class really did enjoy a 98% increase in base salaries from their pre-enrollment levels. But overall, their total pay packages were worth an average of $99,400. That works out to be the fourth lowest in Business Week's Top 25. Is that due to companies' internal compression issues? Is it because just under 50% of the class is placed in the Midwest, where packages tend to be lower?

I think there're several things that impact that. First and foremost, we are putting more people into manufacturing than some of the other schools. Yes, we have the diversity with service, but we still have a very nice piece [of the class] going into manufacturing, and the pay structure there is not what you find on Wall Street.

We don't have much of a representation on Wall Street -- with investment banking, and so forth -- and each year a number of our students are interested in that and we help them with the self-directed search where we can. But the industry mix, I think, has a terrific impact on salary function, and so does goegraphy. Even though under 50% of the class goes to work in the Midwest, 44% is probably double what a number of the other top schools are at.

The bottom line for us is: It's a little bit concerning that what appears in the national press for our average compensation is fourth lowest in the Top 25, when we are impacted by the industry, the function, and the geography the way we are. But if an applicant, for example, were to break down average salaries by function and he took a look at operations, then he would not see the kind of differential at Krannert that you see for the class average overall.

At the top of the hour we were talking about student involvement in the Krannert program. What about alums? What's the extent of their presence on the Krannert campus, especially in helping to oil the job search process? (Editor's note: Krannert's total MBA alumni base is 5,723 strong)

Considering that we've always graduated a smaller class and that alums have only been out there since 1957, you would think that would be a tough nut to crack, but we have tremendous alumni involvement. I would say a good half of our recruiters are alums. Alums also, of course, are active in the presentations. If they're not actually doing the internship or job interviewing, we're very likely to have alums here for the company presentations and receptions.

In addition, our alums are frequent speakers in the classroom and for seminars. For example, in the fall we have a special seminar just for the international students to focus on their job search. For that, we will bring in our international alumni who did a successful job search and are now working either overseas or domestically. It's just a tremendous story for our current students to see that success.

We also have an alumni board that is always interested in our placement efforts, and very willing to give their advice.

How about on the other side of the equation: What sorts of services and perks do alums get once they earn their MBA degree?

We're working on our alumni career services to the greatest extent possible, and it's an area where technology has helped. For example, we give alums access to an electronic resume-delivery system and have on our Web site a section for alums that is in most parts active (some of it is still under development). We've established a networking feature for those who wish to register, and we have a database that anyone in the country can feed jobs into. In addition there are a number of links that we provide that are very relevant for MBA alums, such as Career Central, an online job matching service.

So, those represent a reasonable effort for what we're trying to accomplish overall. Of course, my associate director and I are also frequently called by alums [to assist them in finding job leads]. We even have a few who stop by in West Lafayette to talk about a job search or a potential job search and we take the time for that. That's all free of charge.

Alan, what do you predict will happen on the placement front this year? Will salaries hold up? Will this golden age of the MBA continue onward? Or will it grind to an abrupt halt?

Again, based on the first 30 returns, I'm going to predict an increase in salaries of about 8%, compared to the 5% to 6% that I was predicting early in the season.

Does that also mean that MBAs can expect to find more perks sprinkled into their pay packages?

I think that's happening anyway. I think in a lot of industries, there is more being put into the incentive basket. And certainly, some of the manufacturers, particularly the high tech manufacturers, are doing more with incentive compensation. So, base salaries probably won't grow as quickly as total comp for this year and for the foreseeable future. But the salaries are up again and the placement rates, I'm hoping, will be the same. 1998 was a banner year for all of us -- I hope we can do that again. We do have more international students and that's a bigger challenge, but we'll see.

So, you heard it here first: the MBA degree will continue to bring home the bacon and then some, in 1999.

Part of what I have to say about that concerns the balance that we have here: Roughly 24% of the class is going into the broad computer and electronics industry, while 22% is going into consulting, and another 15% are heading into what I would collectively call the heavy manufacturing industries. That's an industry balance that will really helps us [should a downturn occur]. Moreover, if there is a recession, we have the coastal representation in industries that are still on the move. So, I'm fairly optimistic about not just this year but the next two or three years, and that's as far out as I'll think.

Alan Ferrell, thank you very much for laying out much of Krannert's placement situation.