Even The Ivy League Colleges are Hunkering Down.
Harvard MBAs returning from their holiday were greeted January 13 with an email from Jana P. Kierstead, Managing Director, MBA Career Services who stated right off the bat that “postings in the Job Bank are down 24%.” We’re sure this factoid doesn’t portend anything dire. We can’t imagine any of the June crop of grads from Harvard’s Business School will go hungry. Most likely it simply means fewer alternatives. But that isn’t true everywhere else.
We are beginning to hear about significant numbers of offers being recalled from undergrads in less prestigious institutions of higher learning. This could become an issue and we would encourage firms considering similar actions to think twice. Reneging on young professionals at the very beginning of their careers in the “Age of Facebook” is sure to have lasting consequences. If you must do it, think about investing enough to create a much more positive experience:
- Use a phone call not an email.
- Counsel with Career Services first.
- Offer severance.
- Consider outplacement support.
- Build a self-help ning.com network for those affected and get employee volunteers to support it and help develop leads.
- Consider graduate school grants (we heard one firm was considering this).
- Consider int’l. travel grants.
- [Your innovative option here]
Back to Harvard. We were amazed at the level of career management initiatives the Business school invests in. They include:
- a Career Coach assigned to each student,
- Job Search Teams: 7-9 students plus 1 coach collaborating with one another to achieve their employment goals,
- several Career Services portals,
- a series of industry-specific networking strategy programs called Beyond the Job Bank that focus on issues like networking best-practices, and
- Directors’ Notes, an effort by the Career Services staff to be more transparent with their knowledge and thoughts in light of the economic situation.
Kudos to Harvard. We expect they aren’t alone but clearly are changing the playing field.
Article by Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler and courtesy of Career Xroads, the staffing strategy connection, bringing together corporate staffing professionals who “get it” to share best practices.
