Changed Market, Changing Tactics Career Services Meets New Challenges

Author: Edward Pickering

A nationwide decline in on-campus recruiting by employers visibly affected Middlebury College this fall when several high-profile finance firms cancelled visits.
The cancellations highlight the increasing importance of internships and networking as means of finding employment in today's economy. The Career Services Office (CSO) has launched a number of programs and initiatives designed to help students succeed in a job market where personal connections are invaluable.
Credit Suisse, Robert Stevens, Adams, Harkness and Hill and Deutsche Bank cancelled visits to Middlebury College, triggering anxiety among some job-seeking seniors. Many in CSO, however, feel that such concern is not merited. Robertson Stevens went out of business, Adams, Harkness and Hill claimed to be coming in February and Credit Suisse did not interview at Middlebury last year.
Moreover, several firms interviewed at Middlebury College for the first time this year, namely Lehman Brothers, Boston South Financial, John Hancock and Edward Jones. Regardless of what firms visit, Amory Wooden '03, marketing coordinator for the CSO, says students need to realize that recruiting visits account for a miniscule portion of all hires. Only two to five percent of jobs, notes Wooden, are acquired through oncampus interviews.
In addition, Associate Director for Recruiting Development Donald Kjelleren points out that the finance industry is unique among the many industries that recruit on college campuses.
The pronounced decline in on-campus recruiting by the finance industry is not the norm. Finance firms have traditionally spent a lot of money on college recruiting and are particularly sensitive to economic fluctuations. Thus, recent economic woes, coupled with the high cost of visiting individual campuses, induced many firms to cancel their visits this year.
The finance industry has seen a 50 percent decrease in hiring since the peak hiring year, 2000. For all that, the industry's retraction is only one part of a much larger trend, the causes of which run deeper than the current economic stagnation. Overall, the decline in on-campus recruiting has been much more gradual and far less dramatic.
On-campus recruiting, according to Kjelleren, has been declining for several years for a number of reasons. Advances in technology, especially in communication, have contributed to the decline. More notably, however, there has been an increase in the number of "consortia events" to which the College sends students. Consortia events are somewhat like job fairs, except they are open by invitation only.
Middlebury College and a number of other New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools are participating in five consortia events this academic year, held in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. Students whose resumes catch the eye of employers are invited to the consortia, where they can interview with several firms at once. Employers and students are brought together in an efficient manner that renders it unnecessary for firms to send representatives to individual schools. Says Kjelleren, "We are experiencing a transition from an inefficient model [of recruiting] to a more efficient model." With this objective, the CSO helps firms select consortia invitees by holding five resume collections in the fall and four resume collections in the spring.
CSO has also begun a major new initiative called the Career Directions Program. For every major offered at Middlebury College, CSO has organized a faculty-led forum in which students and professors discuss careers in a relevant field or fields.
Apart from channeling students toward consortia and organizing faculty-led forums, CSO has sponsored networking workshops, alumni panels, employer/alumni information sessions, etiquette dinners and networking lunches. Through new programs and initiatives the CSO is emphasizing the increasing importance of internships and networking as opposed to traditional recruitment.
Kjelleren says that "recruitment is not the way you get a job. Networking is the way to get a job." He substantiates his claim with the following statistic: Over 60 percent of the jobs exist only in the "hidden job market," and are filled through referrals and other forms of networking. Says Wooden, "There are fewer and fewer jobs available, and you need to have better and better connections to get those jobs. It all comes down to networking."
To help students network, CSO maintains MiddNet Online, an online database of Middlebury College alumni who have agreed to provide vocational advice and support. Students acquire far more than an education when they attend Middlebury: They buy into an invaluable network linking Middlebury College to the economy at large. According to Scott Pardee, Alan R. Holmes professor of monetary economics, "The way to Wall Street and other fine jobs has mainly been paved by Midd alums who have reached key positions in their firms and who have a say in the hiring process."
Explains Pardee, "This is the way it works: Harvard alums in firms give preference to job candidates from Harvard, Williams alums do the same for candidates from Williams. In recent years, Middlebury graduates, men and women, have broken through that Old Boy network so that our students now at least get a fair hearing."
"Students need to avail themselves upon the Midd network," says Kjelleren. "The single most valuable thing is to learn how to use the network."
Internships go hand in hand with networking. "Summer internships are critical," says Kjelleren. "They lend credibility and focus to a student's resume." Internships help establish connections between students and employers, and the value of such connections cannot be overstated in the current economy. According to Kjelleren, finance firms are now going straight to their summer interns and hiring them.
Responding to the needs of students, the CSO recently added a director of internships to its staff. Under Susan Walker's guidance CSO has developed two new internship programs.
Over fall break 14 sophomores had externships at 25 companies in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Vermont and elsewhere. Externships, which are distributed by lottery, give students an opportunity to sample an industry or profession.
The externship program is in its second year and so far student response to it has been very positive. Students taking part in the Leadership Peaks Program are given the opportunity to intern with high-level employees in firms and companies. These internships are unique, rigorous and competitive.