Interview blizzard

I just returned from the career fair I blogged about the last time. It was fantastic as always. Drawing on my experience from last year’s event, I was very efficient with the use of my time having prescheduled all my interviews. I did not think I could do it but I had 10 heavy interviews in just two days! This will probably never happen again but I can tell you that I am back in form and ready to take on any on-campus interviewer right this minute. My concern heading to the event was that I was a bit rusty but all that got straightened out after the first interview.

The evenings were very memorable with the various parties/receptions organized by the companies. Three very big Tech companies got together to throw a party with a live DJ and lots of old school jams appropriate for the crowd. I was lucky to be invited by a friend who interned with one of the three companies this past summer. We had a blast!

I’m back to my academic realities now, which includes two mid-term exams this week and other assignments. Oh well, need to hit the books now.

The Mod so far

This Mod is proving to be much busier than I anticipated. I was planning to just kick back and relax in this second year but the situation has been far from that. I’m taking classes in Fixed Income, Mergers & Acquisitions, Advanced Writing and Complex Deals.

My day starts at 6 am and goes on with no break till about 1 am. Between Peer Counseling with the first years, bad ass classes like Complex Deals and preparing for a major career fair next week in my ‘hometown’. Oh yeah, did I mention that I’m back on the job market? I had a great time with my summer employer but I will not be returning there for full time. Drawing from my experience at this same recruiting event last year, I am much more strategic this time and I’ve been getting a tremendous amount of interest from the recruiting firms. I’ve had a few phone interviews and scheduled some on-site interviews. What is interesting is the variety in the firms that have contacted me to express their interest in having conversations with me. It ranges from Banks to major consulting firms through Credit Card companies to Auto manufacturers. It’s either the job market for MBAs is really booming or they like something (I suspect the I-banking thingy) on my resume. Here’s a tip for aspiring MBAs, if you don’t know what you really want to do, just work very hard and get an I-Banking summer internship and you’ll get a good shot at most other firms for full time. The investment in time, money and loss of sleep is well worth it.

I’ve met many first year students and they remind me of where I was this time last year. The second year students on the other hand are another story altogether. Those that accepted offers from the summer cannot be bothered anymore. Those that are still in the job market cannot be bothered either. People are much more realistic now with their aspirations and many have quickly realized that there are many more fantastic career opportunities for them that I-Banking/Consulting path that they thought was best for them last year. As you’ll notice from this blog this 2 year sojourn is looking very much like a 2-year job search. I will be very frank with any employer I’m talking to now because I have many viable options and do not need to run around like a headless chicken.