I am a FT MBA student graduating in May 2015 and I am not returning to my internship employer. Is it too early to start applying for open positions that I see online? Some of the positions are very interesting to me so I am finding it hard to resist. I am also anxious to start interviewing and getting an offer before I graduate.
Should I go through the school’s on-campus recruiting effort until Nov and start applying online for open positions only at that point? Or should I submit resumes now to postings I am interested just in case they might be flexible to a 2015 start date, and reapply in December if I don’t hear anything?
On-campus recruiting is arguably the most valuable part of doing a FT MBA. You will find real-world recruiting to be very challenging and unrewarding in comparison. Instead of getting an interview for 50% of the jobs you apply to as in on-campus recruiting, you will find in real-world recruiting that you only get an interview for 5% of the jobs you apply for. And instead of getting job offers for 50% of the jobs you interview for as in on-campus recruiting, you will find in real-world recruiting that firms interview a dozen candidates and make an offer to one. In other words, you should focus on on-campus recruiting while that is still an option.
I graduate this December, and from my experience, it has even been too early for me right now. People have said they are looking to hire right now and that they cant wait until December
Yeah, I never knew this until I joined this site. I was always under the impression that the value of the mba was 10, 20 years down the line. Not right when you graduate
Like I said earlier, I think you should focus on on-campus recruiting while that window is open. . I suspect that you won’t get many responses from real-world job postings. Though give it a try and report back.
Unless you have exactly what they’re looking for, it’s becoming a long shot to apply online. Your odds are better busting your a$$ at on campus recruitments.
Applying long before your programme is nearing the end whther online or offline simply means either as a candidate you are too ‘poor’ and lack the confidence to succeed in campus placement or your MBA is just not upto the mark (as some one said above a ‘crap’’.) All HR people know when is the on-campus season and your reasoning may be helpful only after you have got your MBA with high grades and can prove your interest in the ‘rare position’ with some even rarer facts in your favour.
Flexibility with start date should be a concern much later when you have seen some positive outcome of your efforts - selection of freshers normally involve a number of rounds. Hope you get what you want, best of luck.
