Jobless MBAs Seek Solace in Support Groups

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So far, I already have three job leads just by talking to people in the groups."

These types of groups play an important role in helping students broaden their networking capabilities and stay motivated during the job hunt, says Rebecca Zucker, a partner at San Francisco-based Next Step Partners, a firm that specializes in guiding clients through career transitions. Back in the 2001 recession, Zucker was asked by business schools across the country to lead Career Action Groups, a six-week support and career transition program for recent MBA graduates who were having trouble landing a job. In the current economic climate, students are clamoring for this type of support while they're still in business school, she says.

"There has just been a tremendous need for these groups at business schools. Students need extra support and business schools tend to be social environments anyway, so I think people just genuinely want to help each other," Zucker says.

Students as Group Leaders

At a handful of business schools, some of these efforts are being led by business school students, rather than career services officers. MBA students from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business (Ross Full-Time MBA Profile) have set up about 10 student-led "accountability groups" for full-time job-seekers who are members of the Net Impact chapter, a business-oriented environmental club with about 370 members. Each group has anywhere from five to seven students and all of the sessions are led by a student facilitator, who helps classmates build a timeline for their job search, provides guidance, and leads discussions.

The club has always run these types of groups, but their popularity has increased in the last year, says Becca Brooke, a second-year MBA who is vice-president for career education at the Ross Net Impact chapter and facilitator of one of the accountability groups. At meetings, members come up with helpful tips—such as writing holiday cards to old contacts to let them know about the job hunt—and help keep their peers on top of tasks such as setting up informational interviews and sending out résumés.

"I think without the group I would be a lot more stressed," says Brooke, a dual-degree student who is looking to work at an organization like the National Parks Service or the World Resources Institute. "The job search is an emotional and nerve-racking process, but the groups really bring a sense of calm and a 'you can do it' confidence to the job search."

Brooke is not alone in her quest to find a job outside of the finance or consulting world. About one-quarter of the students at the Ross School look for jobs in nontraditional fields at companies that don't recruit on campus, which can make the job search all the more challenging, says Leslie Lynn, Ross' associate director of career development. In addition to the peer-led Net Impact career groups, the school also operates official job support groups run by the career services office, she says. A few years back, these groups typically wouldn't start meeting until the winter semester but the timeline has been ramped up so that the groups now start getting together before the December holiday break. There are also resources for alumni; graduates from the class of 2009 who have yet to land jobs keep in touch daily through a "Yes We can 09" group listserv, where students swap job-searching articles, advice, job-hunting stories, and other suggestions that help "people keep their heads up" during a challenging period in their lives, Lynn says.

"I think the most rewarding and most emotional stories of these groups are when efforts lead to success," Lynn says. "The group as a whole just takes such gratitude and a little skip in their step from that news."

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

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