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NOVEMBER 28, 2000 B-SCHOOL Q&A: PLACEMENT Meet IMD'S Placement Director "We have a small class that we can work with and know on an individual basis. We also get to know their partners, family situations, where they've come from, where they want to go, and we have a real impact on where they actually end up."
Q: Julianne, how have career services changed since 1998, when you started at IMD? A: There are certainly many more opportunities available at companies now. It's not just the big Fortune 500 [companies recruiting on campus]. There are small startup [companies] that come here looking for graduates and we have a few of our MBAs [building] their own [companies], as well. Q: How does your staff market IMD's MBAs to recruiting companies? A: We start marketing the MBAs [to companies] before they get to campus. And one of the nice things about my role, being not only director of career services but also of marketing, is that I'm involved in the admissions process. So I really get to hand pick our classes. Not only in terms of the mix [of students] that we want in a class but also in thinking of where these people will go when they graduate. Because of our focus on executive education, and the number of executives that are here on campus throughout the year, these folks are being marketed all the time. They have exposure to and networking opportunities with these executives as they arrive on campus in January. Q: Actually, when Business Week surveyed IMD's class of 1999, graduates noted that the networking at IMD wasn't quite as strong as they had anticipated. Is there anything being done to remedy that? A: I would question that, to some extent. First of all, that was one single class, the class of 1999, and I have no idea as to how many actually responded. The networking is there all the time and made available to them. It's a force of nature, since we are a small campus. We share auditoriums, we share eating facilities, and there's no way to really segregate individuals from different programs. We have concerted efforts to create events, too. For instance, during our human-resources leadership program, which is for executives in HR, we have a set networking event. Q: Students have also said that the firms coming to campus tend to be the traditional crop of consulting firms and investment banks and that the B-school would benefit from a more diverse line up of recruiters. A: We've had small-business or family-business companies come this year, as well as small, private corporations. Of course, we have our Fortune 500 [recruiters]. One of the things that we focus probably less effort on is the on-campus recruiting, and that's simple economics. We have a class of 85 [MBAs], but a certain portion is sponsored every year. For instance, last year, I had 74 candidates that would be looking for work. It makes a lot of sense to look at what the individual career path could be and who are the right people for them to be talking to on an individual basis, rather than just bringing many companies here to talk to three or four MBAs. Having said that, we had over 60 companies come here in September of this year trying to recruit 73 individuals. I don't think anyone can claim those kind of statistics in terms of number of companies to MBAs. But that's certainly not the most effective way for the recruiting process, and we really try to emphasize individual recruiting or using the networking opportunities here.
Q: That puts the onus on students to conduct individual job searches. A: Absolutely. That's something that starts for the class of 2001 even before they get to campus. We create a short profile book at the beginning of each year. The book includes their photo, nationality, and age, and all of those things that everyone wants to know but they're not allowed to ask [in the U.S.]. It also includes a very short bio in terms of what their work experience has been. We use that as our initial marketing document. It gives executives an immediate feel, a flavor for the diversity and the experience level of the class. And the [executives] can already start to see if there are profiles that they're interested in pursuing. We're very industry focused, both in terms of who we bring into the program and where these people go, which is very much what IMD is based on. So we're not really consistent with cyclical recruiting. For instance, [considering] what the consulting companies are looking for, we're not always a consultant's best bet, here at IMD. Q: What consulting firms do find what they're looking for when they recruit at IMD? A: Those consulting firms that do well in recruiting at IMD recognize and value the depth and quality of experience of IMD's MBAs and are prepared to offer opportunities that reflect this experience. Most often, the "MBA-entry level" is bypassed and IMD MBAs are put to work on projects where they can contribute immediately through their industry, geographical, or functional expertise and are leading teams at the outset. Q: Where can students from outside of Europe expect to be placed upon graduation? A: In 1999, 12 individuals out of a class of 74 went to the United States. Of those 12, only two were Americans. Eight other students went to Asia, three went to Latin America, and the balance to Europe — including Central and Eastern Europe. It's a bit early to say for the 2000 class. However, I anticipate a similar spread, with the numbers going to North America increasing slightly — perhaps up to 25% of the class. The companies that came here, aside from the traditional consulting companies were Philips, Johnson & Johnson, DaimlerChrysler, Nestle, Enron, Ford Motor, and others. Q: Which students are the hardest to place? A: We really don't look at it in terms of placement per se, we really try to facilitate their own job search. Most of the individuals who come here have a pretty established network on their own that they can employ when they're looking for where they'll go next. And a lot of the time folks come here already knowing the direction they want to be going. We don't have a lot of people who come here looking to change everything about their career. We are a very intense one-year program. It's geared toward [someone on an executive track] or a young manager, let's say, who's already shown career progression and who is on that track toward general management. The person may be lacking some of the skills necessary to really succeed or go faster and farther. Having said that, maybe one of the challenges for us is the South American or Latin American region. Typically, those folks are looking to further that international exposure, and thus are looking to pursue an opportunity in Europe. Q: Tell us about IMD's Web site for the alumni network? A: Our Web site has possibilities for alumni to come back and talk to us, talk to each other, to recruiters, and also with companies that belong to our learning network. Q: For the prospective MBAs that can't make the trek to Switzerland to visit campus, can you tell us what the physical office is like? A: The IMD MBA office is small but efficient. We have integrated all of the departments, so that we maximize our resources. For example, when either the director of admissions or myself are traveling for a forum — for example, the GMAC MBA Forum NYC — we always include meetings with existing or new recruiters, interview candidates for the program, and the press. Q: How large is the career center's staff? A: I have one full-time staff member dedicated to traditional career-services administration and the organization of the September on-campus recruiting event. Career counseling, job-strategy development, and coaching are handled by myself, alumni, and faculty, [with some] outsourcing for specific workshops, as well as integrated into the academic program to some degree. We have found that this approach of pooling talent and perspectives lends itself well to the more experienced profiles of the IMD MBA. We have 22 interview rooms available for the two week, on-campus recruiting event. Our Library & Information Center, located just next to the MBA auditorium, has over 12,000 books and 600 periodicals, 1,400 annual reports, and numerous titles on CD-ROM. Q: What about interviewing. Does interview preparation command much of the career-services curriculum? A: We look to our alumni to help us on simulated interview training. They're probably in the best position to do that since, like most business schools, your alumni are some of your best recruiters as well. We have an event in June of every year when we invite alumni to come back from their different functions and industries to interview the MBAs in a real-life interview session. That's something very formal that we do. On an individual basis, I do interview training with the MBAs one-on-one. Again, one of the advantages to a small program is that I have a lot of time to spend with these people. Q: What would you say is the greatest strength, and then the greatest weakness, of the career-services office? A: Our greatest strength is the fact that we have a small class that we can work with and know on an individual basis. We also get to know their partners, family situations, where they've come from, where they want to go, and we have a real impact on where they actually end up. At least the next step from IMD. On the other hand, [our size] can sometimes also be a constraint for us. Clearly, we can't offer opportunities — you know they are totally unlimited — that a much larger program could offer. It takes me 10 years to graduate what a class of Harvard can do in a year. So that does give us some limitations on the alumni side. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. 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