The Wall St Journal Online recently ran a piece about the hot competition for MBA grads and the subsequent revamping of on-campus recruiting techniques. They claim that “it’s a seller’s market out there…At a time when career opportunities are so plentiful that students can afford to turn down even six-figure offers from investment banks, it is especially difficult for traditional manufacturers to make an impression.”

Some of the tactics traditional companies are using to move beyond the “dinosaur” of MBA on-campus recruiting include:
*virtual recruiting, especially finding an engaging way to answer students’ questions quickly
*visiting business schools earlier and more often
*forming relationships with top prospects through intimate events such as small group dinners
*shortening the timeline between extending an offer and closing the deal

Of course, salaries are also increasing as a result of competition. “About 69% of recruiters in the Journal survey said their companies increased starting pay this year. Nearly a third of the survey respondents said they offered salaries of more than $100,000, up from about 24% last year and 17% in 2005.”

Read the entire article here.

This week’s GMAT challenge question from PrepForTests is a data sufficiency question. In this type of GMAT question you need to work out which of the statements 1 and 2 are required to answer the question.

Once you have tried to answer the question review your answer.

In August we covered some of the benefits of being a B School alum such as:
Kellogg’s executive education initiative exclusively for alumni
Columbia’s online career resource center
Stanford’s service opportunities for alums
Tuck’s wide-reaching alumni club gatherings

Kellogg has introduced another alumni perk with the launching of Kellogg Insights, a web-based research digest. According to an email to Kellogg alums, they developed Kellogg Insights to address the student and alumni requests for “an up-to-date account of what [the] faculty is producing.” Recent articles include:

Are Large CEO Severance Packages Justified?

Pricing a Global Measure of Liquidity Risk

Beating the Bottlenecks in E-Commerce

Choosing the right commercialization strategy as a technology start-up

Remember that your MBA education doesn’t end at graduation. It’s a lifetime investment.

The Wall Street Journal Online reported last week on the new HBS program to widen the MBA applicant pool. Read the full article here. Excerpts are posted below:

Called 2+2, the initiative allows college students to lock in a spot in Harvard’s M.B.A. program by the end of their junior year. Before they start classes, accepted students must work for two years. The school is providing free career counseling and other resources to help students secure these short-term positions…

Liberal-arts students generally lack exposure to what a graduate business degree can offer, says Andrea Mitchell Kimmel, associate director of M.B.A. admissions at Harvard Business School…”There’s a myth out there that business is putting on a gray flannel suit every day and going to a big office,” she says. “No one ever tells [undergrads] that business involves areas like nonprofits, government, education and social enterprise.”

By providing deferred admission, 2+2 will also help Harvard Business School attract more women applicants, says Carl Kester, deputy dean for academic affairs. The demographic is one that M.B.A. programs in general have historically struggled to recruit. “Young women who are considering an M.B.A., but believe they need for five or six years of work experience before applying, are often faced with concerns about when they might start a family,” he says. “By comparison, many professional-degree programs can be completed in less than five years.”

To participate in Harvard’s 2+2 program, undergrads must apply by July 1 of their junior year, which costs a nonrefundable fee of $100. By comparison, the regular application process for the most recently admitted class was $235. Up to 90 students will be admitted to the Class of 2013 next fall, which will account for roughly 10% of Harvard Business School’s total student body that year.

The jobs students select must be approved by the business school, Ms. Kimmel says. “Since they have a coach from September of their senior year, we don’t envision that there will be a problem,” she says.
From wsj.com, Sept 13, 2007

View the HBS 2+2 press release.