MBA Tales: Searching for Work in a Recession

For the Class of 2009, landing a job may seem next to impossible, but for the Class of 2002, flexibility and persistence paid big dividends

By Geoff Gloeckler

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The idea for "MBA Tales: Searching for Work in a Recession" came from BusinessWeek reader T.S. Aditya Raghav, who will start his MBA at IESE in Spain this fall.

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When members of the MBA Class of 2009 descended on business school two years ago, their expectations were high. The classes before them had been showered with high-paying jobs and lucrative benefits packages upon graduation, and the '09ers had no reason to think that things would be any different for them. But soon after they set foot on campus, things began to change. The economy tanked, internships weren't as easy to find, fewer students came back for their second year with a job offer in hand, and the on-campus recruiting pipeline dried up. Those who were lucky enough to secure a job offer were constantly worried that their start date might be pushed back, or worse, that the offer would be rescinded altogether. Now, a month after graduation, many are still looking for full-time employment.

To the MBA Class that graduated in 2002, the experience sounds eerily familiar. They were the ones who witnessed firsthand what September 11, Enron, and the dot-com bust did to the job market during their two years in B-school. At some schools, five and six job offers to each student dipped to one offer per three students. Many had to put dreams of switching careers on hold. Others accepted positions that were lower on the corporate ladder than expected. For some it took more than a year to find a job, but they survived to tell the tale.

Can the Class of 2009 learn from the experiences of the class that graduated into the last downturn seven summers ago? Yes and no. If there's one thing that members of the Class of 2002 agree on, it's that graduating at a time of economic upheaval is, despite appearances, not the end of the world. All five graduates interviewed for this article landed on their feet. But if the Class of 2009 is looking for rules for navigating a slumping economy, there's really only one: There are no rules. Flexibility and patience will be rewarded in the end, but so too will a single-minded focus and jumping at the first opportunity that comes along. In the end, everyone must discover what works best—for themselves—and make their own way in an economically inhospitable world.

A CAREER SWITCHER STAYS PUT

Aaron McNally graduated from UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business (Haas Full-Time MBA Profile) in the spring of 2002 without a job. But it wasn't for lack of trying. "I was frantically sending out résumés," he says. No one called. A career switcher, McNally was looking for a tech job—specifically focused on education—after spending his pre-B-school career in the TV industry. The problem, though, was that everyone was applying for tech jobs and most had more experience than he did. "It was brutal," McNally says. To pay the bills as he continued his job search post-graduation, McNally took a part-time position in the Haas admissions office, reading applications and undoubtedly wondering if the applicants knew what they were getting into.

As 2002 turned into 2003, McNally was still without full-time employment. Months earlier he had decided that he didn't have the résumé for a tech/education position. "I had to go back to what I knew," he says. That meant TV. A year after graduation, in the spring of 2003, one of his classmates sent him a job posting with News Corp. (NWS) The job's main function was running financial analysis on new projects for the company's satellite properties. True, it wasn't technology and it wasn't education, but it was a job, and one he was qualified for. McNally applied and was offered the position.

Soon after starting at News Corp. he was moved to the DirecTV division, specifically looking at new non-English language offerings for U.S. customers. He stayed for four years. Then, in early 2007, a position opened up at Google (GOOG) in its newly-formed TV advertising platform. Based on his experience and background, McNally was a good fit for the position. He's been there ever since.

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