Interviewing Dilemma

by Ajay Dawar, MBA1

adawar@umich.edu

If there is one word that would capture the feelings of MBA1s in this semester, it's insecurity. Insecurity about summer job, about full time prospects, about grades and just about anything else. The stressful atmosphere has surely pushed many of us down in the Maslow hierarchy.

The clash is causing a serious deterioration in the academic experience. It's difficult to concentrate in classes immediately before and after interviews. Assignments that require individual effort frequently turn into the best examples of teamwork (though recruiters won't relish this example). Sometimes the preparation, both mental and informational, is causing missed classes, not to mention the interviewing itself. Thin attendance in classes is surely disliked by professors. And the feeling of missing out on those class participation points is a constantly nagging.

Going by the responses that I got, it's clear that something needs to be done. The interview, classes and assignments conflict is taking a toll on the complete academic experience as well as career prospects. We came to UMBS with two goals. To learn, and to get a better job. The latter is clearly more important for many of us as few want to learn just for the sake of learning. And when it comes to making a choice the attendance in the classes and the quality of performance in midterms, assignments is telling.

Many pointed out that there are other schools that have a better recruiting process where recruiting is clumped together in two weeks. But they are schools, which are preferred over UMBS by top employers. Still, given the state of things there is definitely room for improvement. There is a week that can stolen from the last semester, and another week that can be squeezed in before MAP begins. The various solutions are for you to read in the "Question of the week" section. But here's another take on it. Three weeks of classes ending with a midterm, followed by two weeks of recruiting, followed by another four weeks of classes. That way the recruiting season would begin when most companies usually come to UMBS. The second round interviews that did not get completed during the two weeks, could continue in the spring break. The advantage is that most companies would be interviewing around the same time as previous years. The classes ending with a midterm would ensure a focused academic pursuit. The spring break could then be put to a better use.

There can be many more solutions to this issue. All I can say is, get together with your section mates, some MBA2s and the OCD to make sure that we craft a practical solution and propose it to the dean as part of the legacy initiative. Change the process is a must. Let's do it.