Job Searchers Face a New Reality

With MBAs facing a hiring slowdown, career professionals offer some tips for making every contact count

by Francesca Di Meglio

It's not officially the recession of '08 yet—but graduates and career counselors at business schools are already planning for one.

The mood on B-school campuses certainly wasn't helped by the news on Apr. 3 that JPMorganChase (PM)—which is acquiring investment house Bear Stearns (BSC)—was rescinding some internship and full-time job offers made by Bear Stearns recruiters (BusinessWeek.com, 4/3/08).

Business schools are advising students to remain calm, be flexible, and maintain their professionalism no matter what happens. After all, even the immediate future is unpredictable. "The difficulty today is the great level of uncertainty," says Timothy Butler, director of career development programs at Harvard Business School, where administrators recently held a strategy session to discuss career planning needs should the situation get worse. "No one is sure if this is the beginning of a slowdown, or a recession," Butler said.

Employers Raising the Bar

Regardless of what the statisticians call it, MBAs and undergraduate business students are already facing a more difficult job hunt. Although most top business schools say they aren't seeing declines in the number of students with job offers yet, they have noticed recruiters are tightening their belts and starting to show more concern about the troubled economy.

Even undergrads seeking summer internships, which generally are more cost-effective for employers, are having trouble. A number of investment banks have reduced hiring needs for summer analysts, and there are fewer positions than last year, says Lee Svete, director of the career center at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business undergraduate program . Still, there are jobs for those who are willing to step up their game plan and résumé. "The most competitive students, those candidates with a 3.7 to 4.0 GPA with leadership experience on campus, have found summer internships," adds Svete. "It seems like employers have raised the bar in terms of selecting candidates."

BusinessWeek recently asked a number of career counselors at top business schools for advice on how they're advising students. For starters, they stressed staying focused and optimistic, and sticking with career planning basics—from self-assessment to stressing their fit at a particular company by matching skills with the employer's needs. Here are some other tips they've come up with:

Have a Backup Plan, or Two

After working so hard to earn an MBA or undergraduate degree, many people feel as though they shouldn't settle for anything but their dream job. But there are many roads to paradise, say career advisers. Butler, for instance, asks students to create a vision for the next five to seven years of their life. Then he has them work through the vision backwards to see the different roles that might help them reach their ultimate goal. "The best job-seekers have not only a Plan A (dream jobs), but also a Plan B (one aspect of their dream job but maybe not all) and a Plan C (roles that can lead to your dream job in a year or two)—and they pursue all three plans simultaneously," says Rebecca Joffrey, associate director of the career development office at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. "This approach maximizes your chance of getting offers. Then, you can choose among them."