Q: A large chunk of your non-Canadian students come from Asia. What sort of help do you give them?
A: We talk about international students as a group, but the fact is they're not. Some are international, but they've lived here for four or five years and have some relevant and recent domestic work experience. Then there's a group that arrives literally days before the program starts. In that group there are some who want to return to their place of origin and others who want to stay [in Canada]. Each group has to be treated differently, and that's one of the reasons our one-to-one counseling works.

International students...have the added obstacle of dealing with visa requirements and language barriers. We've added some language training for them. We also participate in three international job fairs, and we're planning on hosting one in Toronto with other local B-schools.

Q: In the last couple of years, we've seen a tougher job market. How did your MBAs fare, and what did your school do to help them overcome the obstacles?
A: We [publish our job] stats online, so you can always look at how our graduates have done. Typically, 85% to 90% of graduates are working and happy with their job six months out.

We can't get every potential recruiter to come on campus. As a result, we have changed our philosophy and now help students execute independent job searches rather than focusing all our efforts on on-campus recruiting. They'll carry these job-search skills to their [future] career moves.

We have also increased our marketing efforts. We're maintaining strong relationships with our core recruiters, who come back year after year. With companies that hire one or two graduates every few years, we're sending simple reminder brochures. If they have a need, they will probably give us a call. We're also actively calling those who haven't recruited here but recruit at other schools or have a strong alumni connection to [Queen's].

Q: Are certain types of MBAs having more success than others?
A: Not really. Those with fewer years work experience were hired through the on-campus recruitment program. Many of the companies that recruit on-campus are putting graduates into management-training roles so they can mold them to fit their corporate culture. Graduates who had more work experience were a much better target for the off-campus job search. Those MBAs were also attractive to the just-in-time recruiters, who came on campus late in the season and wanted somebody with real-life experience to start working right away.

Q: What kinds of career services do you offer to alumni?
A: In the last couple of weeks, we launched our new alumni Web site. We've contracted with a human resource management company, Knightsbridge Human Capital Management, which does executive search, outplacement, and career coaching. This company is located in most of the major centers in Canada, so they're not international, but they do represent the bulk of the Canadian urban market. Alumni can get Knightsbridge services at a reduced rate.

Q: How will the MBA job search change in the near future?
A: Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to plan a year or even 10 months out for their recruitment needs, especially with the markets being so volatile. As a result, just-in-time hiring will become more prevalent. Instead of posting a job with the school, companies are sending MBAs to a centralized site where they can fill out an application and recruiters can screen it. Companies get no value by running seven or eight different postings at different B-schools when they can centralize it on their own Web site. That's where our focus on training students to execute independent job searches will give them an advantage.

| 1 | 2 |  <<previous page