Jan. 10, 2006
Summer-Internship Offers Are Too Premature for Some M.B.A.s
By Ronald Alsop
As they stream back to campus from holiday break, first-year M.B.A. students are gearing up to begin interviews for that all-important summer internship. But the screening process actually started months ago -- at corporate presentations, cocktail parties and intimate dinners where recruiters schmoozed with students and sized up the talent.
In this robust job market, recruiters are showing up on campus earlier than ever -- some as soon as classes start -- to get the first crack at the most promising students. "It's like a sophisticated fraternity rush," says Peter Veruki, external-relations manager for Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. "Companies are getting resume books earlier and inviting M.B.A.s they like best to private events."
It's nice to be wanted, of course, but recruiters can be intrusive at a time when students are settling into classes and trying to explore opportunities in a variety of industries. Many people seek an M.B.A. degree as a ticket to a new career, but haven't made up their minds about their future path.
"The problem is that many companies want first-year M.B.A.s to decide right away, and that pressure is especially great for women and minorities who are in strong demand," says Daniel Nagy, associate dean at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. "It's a real catch 22 -- how can I turn down Procter & Gamble even if I'm not quite sure what I want to do?"
While business schools typically roll out the red carpet for recruiters, some campuses are starting to resist the early marketing push. As she visited campuses last fall, Maury Hanigan repeatedly heard that career-services offices are feeling more pressure from professors to limit recruiting distractions. "Some faculty members would like to have one semester of pure academics before the job search begins and to move internship interviews from January to March or April," says Ms. Hanigan, who runs an M.B.A. talent-scouting service for companies. "But all the schools would have to agree to such a change; otherwise, they'd be afraid the good jobs would be filled by the time companies arrived at their campus."
So far, Harvard Business School has put the tightest rein on recruiters. To give first-year students time to adjust to being back in school, it doesn't permit intern recruiting events before mid-November. Recruiters can participate in "educational" events about their industries earlier, but they aren't supposed to tout their companies or network with students.
The University of Chicago and Stanford University recently followed suit, requiring recruiters to delay their initial pitch to first-year M.B.A.s until Oct. 17 and Nov. 3, respectively.
Some recruiters find the new schedules onerous, particularly Harvard's late starting date. They complain that they don't have enough time to get acquainted with students in late November and December when final exams and holidays crowd the calendar. But Harvard officials respond that companies seem to squeeze plenty of events into the month before winter break.
"At HBS, the quality of the classroom experience is paramount," declares Timothy Butler, director of career-development programs. "We also put a big emphasis on career vision and self-assessment, so we want to give students some breathing room in the fall." He acknowledges that Harvard's renowned reputation and says, "highly sought after students make it easier for us to take a stand with recruiters."
Students feel torn about the intense recruiting courtships. They clearly feel stress in trying to balance their studies and the internship search -- but also relish the attention. "The opportunities are great, but the recruiting process becomes extraordinarily hectic and requires time-management skills, especially in New York where it's so easy to meet with a lot of companies," says Sonali Dayal, a first-year M.B.A. at New York University.
Early-bird recruiting makes some students feel shut out of careers before they even sample the curriculum. Eric Silver, a first-year M.B.A. at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, loved his first finance course, but believes it's already too late to pursue a finance career. "So many students have formed relationships with recruiters," he says, "and are already in the pipeline."
Recruiters are focusing so strongly on first-year M.B.A.s because they hope to turn their star interns into full-time hires. Bain & Co., for example, invites "the vast majority" of summer interns to return full-time. "Our summer-associate recruiting is incredibly valuable because it's a mutual way for the students and the firm to get to know each other," says David Sanderson, Bain's global recruiting chief and a former intern himself for the Boston-based management-consulting firm.
Some companies try to make an end run around schools' recruiting rules by meeting with students at hotels and other off-campus venues. But blue-chip recruiters like Bain and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. say they respect academic priorities and abide by school policies.
"The policies create a level playing field, but we still must be on campus as early as possible," says Janet Raiffa, a recruiting manager at New York-based Goldman. "We aren't competing just with the other investment banks; M.B.A.s today are interested in private equity and hedge funds, too."