For Job-Seeking MBAs, Alumni May Be the Answer

With fewer jobs available through on-campus recruiting and job boards, alumni networks are becoming more critical

By Anne VanderMey

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For Alex Cavallini, the financial crisis hit home as he was preparing to begin a job with Cummins Inc. (CMI) Less than 24 hours before he was set to fly out to his new office, the diesel engine manufacturer rescinded his offer, leaving the recent graduate jobless—even though just a few months before he had his pick of offers from two companies. "I felt like I was losing two jobs at once," he says.

So Cavallini turned to his school, which turned to Brian Hancock, a vice-president at Whirlpool whom Cavallini had worked for and impressed during his internship the summer before. As important as that good impression, Cavallini says, was that Hancock was a fellow alumnus of Brigham Young University. The alum sympathized with Cavallini's plight, and placed a call that afternoon to the CEO of a Whirlpool supplier. Company executives interviewed Cavallini within days and then offered him a job. He accepted, and in less than a week the 28-year-old went from being unemployed to being upwardly mobile.

The MBA alumni network is an integral part of the package at most business schools. Stories like Cavallini's, involving an alumnus making a crucial introduction or putting in a good word, were never uncommon, but they're becoming increasingly critical as companies tighten their belts and more traditional recruitment forums such as career fairs run dry.

An old saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," rings particularly true as recruiters are deluged with qualified applicants and seemingly flawless résumés get lost in the shuffle. But even absent a professional connection, schools are turning toward alumni as a source for fresh job offers, relying on the foundation of trust many school networks automatically confer. InCircle, an alumni networking site used at several U.S. schools, reflects a common sentiment with its revision of the old axiom: "It's not who you know," InCircle's slogan says, "it's how you know them."

Kevin Knox, director of the alumni association at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business, puts it even more directly: "The network has never been more important."

THE OLD COLLEGE TRY

The exact number of job offers that come through alumni contacts is hard to measure and varies from school to school. In a recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, 28% of MBA graduates reported receiving their first job offer as a result of networking. Kristin Irish, deputy director of career development at the Yale School of Management, cautions that that number may be artificially low, as networks play such a fundamental role in the job search that their role is sometimes overlooked. At Notre Dame University's Mendoza College of Business, Patrick Perella, director of MBA career development, estimates that about 50% of students get a job through an alumni connection. Given the recent slump in recruiting, he says, "That number can only go up."

Perella isn't alone in his prediction. As the nation faces the highest unemployment levels in a quarter century, many schools are looking to offset decreases in recruiting with job leads from alumni. At the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Director of Career Management Michelle Antonio says about 40% of offers come through formal, school-organized events like job fairs. This year, she said, that ratio could flip, with 60% of offers coming from other sources—primarily networking.

Across the country, schools are attempting to help that process along with appeals to alumni to come together in the wake of the financial crisis.