MBA Careers Q&A: Babson College

The Olin Graduate School at Babson College aims to adopt a personalized approach in its career development work with students.

“Students are well known to their advisors and their marketplace so they can assist with a matching process,” says Cheri Paulson, senior director of the school’s Graduate Center of Career Development, in explaining how the school utilizes a team of career advisers, each of which has an industry of focus.

In this careers center Q&A, Paulson also tell us that Babson has started to eschew information sessions in favour of more interactive recruitment events which are designed to “showcase both the company and students in a better light.” Read on to find out more!

Does the Olin career services team work with the MBA admissions team during applicant assessment?

As the Graduate Center for Career Development's senior director, I attend the admissions committee meetings when reviewing the prospective graduate students from the lens of employability. 

When do on-campus corporate recruitment events and interviews typically take place at Olin?

Typically our consulting and financial services firms as well as some of the very large technology and CPG companies take place mid-September through November. We choose to not have a fall career fair and instead have more focused branding opportunities for these firms. This fall, we are conducting multiple ‘Spotlight’ events specializing by industry or function (financial services, consulting, CPG, life sciences/healthcare, social impact etc.) that allow organizations to talent scout by rotating through tables of students. This event replaces the more traditional info session. After the event, these students also have a chance for general networking. As a result of these spotlight events, companies can meet a broader and larger group of students early on and before applications are due. The medium to smaller-size firms are much more active from mid-January to mid- April. We only do one career fair, our Spring Career Fair for both internships and full-time positions. Many companies stay on after the fair to interview students directly.

Are there particular skills that career services helps students to accentuate during job fairs and recruiting?

We have created a best practice model for teaching case interview preparation which is critical for our students to be successful with consulting firms as well as in numerous other industries. Our model consists of external practitioners, faculty and the consulting club led by the career services team. In addition, students work either with career advisors or a volunteer executive mock interview team to practice behavioral interviewing and their ‘pitch’. As a spin off from the pitch, we teach small-talk exercises so students know how to weave in and out of conversations in a larger group setting. Storytelling is critical if companies are to learn a student’s passion and their differentiators.

How do career services help MBA students prepare for recruitment events? In what ways does the careers center help match students with companies that will be a good cultural fit for them?

The model of Babson’s graduate career services team is two-fold. Our team is divided into industry specialties; they each conduct outreach to build relationships with companies in their industry specialties and work with students interested in those industries. Advisors do a deep dive of their assigned marketplace including the culture of each of these firms. Often, the team will have developed alumni relationships with these firms and alumni are, therefore, also able to help prepare students for these interviews and insights. We, at Babson, pride ourselves on a high-touch service in which the students are well known to their advisors and their marketplace so they can assist with a matching process.

Are there any new companies recruiting on campus? Have you seen a change in industries?

Every year, we bring in approximately 30-40% new companies. We follow the trends of the market regarding which firms our students would be most interested in and which firms would be interested in our students.

Given our location in Boston, the life sciences/healthcare market continues to grow and moved into second position for industry of choice in 2015.The education technology sector and technology firms in general are also on the rise. The consumer products space is often in the top three industries of choice for our students and continues to be strong. As for functional areas, marketing and business analytics are hot and our students are very interested in these areas. 

Are there any changes to the way in which companies are recruiting?

We are moving away from the traditional info session where the company comes on campus, presents with a long PowerPoint deck and then networks with the students after the event. Students are less interested in attending these events and the companies involved don’t leave knowing our students better. Instead, almost all the recruitment options we offer companies are interactive and showcase both the company and students in a better light, such as the aforementioned ‘Spotlight’ events as well as company treks where students meet executives in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Miami and other major hubs. 

What kind of contact does the careers center at Babson Olin have with MBAs after they graduate?

Babson’s Center for Career Development supports our alumni for one-on-one appointments throughout their career. In addition to individual support, they have access to virtual career development tools, events and job postings. They also have significant support from the alumni and friends office that include group programming by industry/function and additional database resources.

In addition, our alumni frequently take part in focus group initiatives when Babson is in need of the ‘external practitioner’ perspective when looking at curriculum change, for example. Often the Graduate Center for Career Development acts as a bridge to identify alumni who want to engage in this curriculum change initiative.