Q: How do you help MBAs overcome the obstacles of the still-recovering economy?
Keeley: Some companies weren't hiring at all, but others weren't doing much recruiting because they had no travel budget. We decided to take the students to the recruiters. Our students traveled on their own nickel, but we conducted interviews at Carnegie Mellon locations in Manhattan and California. We're doing the same in October and January.

Q: How are recent graduates faring?
Keeley: I don't have any crisp numbers, but we do provide career services to our alumni for life. They don't participate in on-campus recruiting, but we register them and send job leads. In a normal economy, about 100 alumni register [with us]. At the height of the downturn, about 550 alumni registered. A steady stream of people has told us they just accepted new jobs.

Q: What are some trends in today's job market?
Keeley: Many students at the leading business schools came back to campus with offers from their summer-internship employers. Now, companies are pushing students to make decisions about accepting these offers before we even begin on-campus recruiting [for full-time jobs].

There are guidelines suggesting recruiters refrain from doing that. But given the supply and demand factors, many employers are pushing students for a quick response, and there's not much we can do about it. As counselors, we don't think it's in the best interest of the student or the company.

Q: How do you serve international students?
Keeley: We've decreased our international population to about 25%. Part of that is in recognition of the visa problems. We value the participation of international students, and we like a broad representation, but we know it's going to be more challenging to look for employment in the U.S. Except for sponsored international students, most would like to find work in the U.S. at least for a couple of years.

If you're an international student and you want a job in the U.S., the job search is exactly the same as if you were a domestic student or permanent resident. But we advise international students to seek companies that have international activity, so that knowing another language and culture is an asset rather than a liability.

Q: What's the best advice you offer students?
Keeley: Develop a career focus. Then, try to develop the skill set necessary to get to that next step. You're always looking for a job. You must work on making yourself a valuable member of a professional network. Get active in your profession on a local, regional, or national level. Stay visible. Meet people. Do good things for them so that when opportunities start to develop, people think of you as a resource.

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