10 Recruiting Tips From a Second Year Student 

(Success Not Guaranteed!)

                                 

As The Zombies would sing, “it’s the time of the season for…recruiting.” 

Okay, maybe not quite. 

But whatever song lyrics you want to use to describe this time, no one can deny just how important and how intense the next few months are for students hustling to get the internship or job of their dreams. For the past few years, Booth has been #1 on The Economist’s charts for the best MBA program in the world, in no small part because of the strength of its career services.

We’ll write more about the nuts and bolts of recruiting—the scheduling, the resources, and the decision-making process, but in the meantime, have some tried-and-true tips:  

1. Eat breakfast. Even if you have an 8AM interview. Actually, especially if you have an 8AM interview—you’ll need the energy, and it’ll keep you from being a cranky, hangry interviewee. My favorite is Starbucks blueberry oatmeal with the fruit/nut/seed medley swapped out for nuts, and a Veranda Blond, tall, no room, to go.

2. Get your dry-cleaning done the week before. There will be unforeseen circumstances that prevent you from getting your stuff to the cleaners and you do not want to be remembered as the one in the dirty suit. In a pinch, I like Pressed Garments; they’ll come pick up and drop off your dry cleaning at scheduled times. Tip 2a: sometimes they’re late, so allot an extra 15 minute window.

3. Remember to smile and bring good energy. As someone with a naturally stern face, I understand that smiling is not necessarily the easiest thing to keep in mind when in a high-stress environment. It makes a difference, though, and it’s always better to start off the interview with positivity.

4. Surround yourself with people who think you’re awesome, but who can also give you constructive advice about what you can do better. Your mom’s great, but your mentor who went through the same thing you did last year AND has a nifty, prioritized list of your strengths and weaknesses is better.  Even better: Career Advisers, second-year students who are trained extensively to advise critically and effectively on specific career tracks.

5. Crush the math. This! Is! Booth! So, naturally, the quant bar is set high. Make sure you know all the nifty tricks for quick adding and subtracting, and that you can take 15% of anything and apply a 20% CAGR to any base year in your sleep.

6. Do not be shy about asking for help from your classmates. We want to help, and it would be the saddest thing ever if you wanted to know something but didn’t ask because you didn’t want to inconvenience us. I can’t count how many times classmates offered their time and their expertise in helping me achieve my goals; to this day, I haven’t had a single classmate turn me down when I asked to meet with them or get help on case or fit prep. It’s one of the reasons why I feel so strongly about giving back, formally (MCG resume workshop) or informally (coffee chats with anyone who asks me).

7. When asking people about their summers, don’t be a crazy. Slow down and try to build a little bit of natural rapport before bombarding them with questions. Don’t ever underestimate the power of small talk—it’s an effective and frequently necessary step towards building a connection with someone It’s so, so important to treat people (recruiters, contacts at target companies, second years, etc.) as people, rather than a means to an end. Small talk won’t do that on its own, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Right: “So you were in Chicago over the summer; did you get to go to one of the festivals?”  

Wrong: “Which partners and which practices did you get exposure to? Can you put me in contact with them? Also, can you do cases with me tomorrow because I need 1-on-1 coaching ASAP.”

8. Communicate with your classmates in your groups for class. Be upfront so that the group can set reasonable expectations about deadlines and responsibilities. Don’t be the person who’s so busy trying to kiss up to 20 banks that it leaves their group in the lurch: it’s disrespectful, you WILL develop a reputation quickly,  and it will backfire if you ever have to do #6 for re-recruiting.

9. Stay calm. Yes, it feels like you’re sinking into the Mariana Trench, but you’re strong and resilient because you’re a Booth student and it’s in your blood. It gets better; it gets WAY better, so keep that in mind when it feels like you’re one bad crop circle away from meltdown.

10. Re-recruiting is a thing. A huge thing. So don’t stress out if you don’t get exactly what you wanted during internship recruiting. Things happen for a reason, people fall in and out of love with companies and jobs on a regular basis. 

Take a breath; you’re at Booth and you’re going to be wildly successful no matter what you do.  

 

Top 10 List: What LEAD Teaches You About Navigating Booth

Your first “real” experiences at Booth come from the LEAD program. LEAD stands for Leadership Effectiveness and Development, and it is the only required class you’ll take at Booth. The class starts during orientation and lasts about six weeks into your first quarter.  It’s composed of various modules designed to prepare you for leadership roles. Modules range from learning about your personality traits and how that impacts your conflict resolution skills to practicing your presentation skills. It’s also where you meet many of your friends. In honor of the ten LEAD cohorts, here are the Top 10 things LEAD can teach you navigating life at Booth:

1. LOR (the Leadership Orientation Retreat) is a microcosm of your life at Booth. LEAD starts with a three-day retreat in Lake Geneva, WI. The days you spend at the retreat mirror what you can expect from life at Booth – you’ll be challenged during the three days, but you’ll also get personalized and reflective training through the LEAD programming. By the time night falls, you’ll be relaxing and partying with 600 of your closest friends across the resort.

2. Your Cohort and Squad from LEAD will be where you find the first of many friends you meet at Booth. Through LEAD, you’re divided into one of ten cohorts. You’ll attend LEAD programming in these cohorts. Even after your formal class time ends, you’ll still have events organized in/by the cohort throughout the year. To get more personal attention, you’ll be divided into 7 or 8 person squads. Since much of LEAD becomes very personal and intimate, you’ll get to know the members of your squad better than anyone else you meet at Booth.

3. Cohorts give you a sense for the uniqueness of Booth students. Knowing that Booth has a flexible curriculum, you’d expect a diversity of interests among students and your experience in LEAD really showcases that.  Unlike some other schools, your cohort isn't determined by an intended concentration or future function/industry. This ends up being a great benefit, because you’ll end up meeting people with the same interests through classes, student groups and recruiting events. But by mixing things up in the cohort system, you’ll already have a great start on a diverse network for when you graduate.

4. Culture of giving back. One of the greatest attributes of the Booth community is the prevalence of second-year students ready, willing and able to help first-year students succeed. While first-year students see this happening in a multitude of ways, your first taste of this culture comes from LEAD, where, instead of a professor, 40 second-year students design and run the course and make the various modules relevant to you.

5. Booth (and LEAD) are all about taking risks. As Dean Kole likes to say, business school is your off-season, and there’s no better time to take risks. Through LEAD you’ll give a speech in front of your cohort, participate in the high-ropes course at LOR and be asked to at least try things that you wouldn't normally do with your job on the line. These will all help make you a more effective leader after graduation. For example, business school is probably the best time to bomb while giving a presentation, especially compared to the final presentation nearly all internships will require!

6. LEAD (and B-School in general) mark a transition point. While your classmates come from a variety of backgrounds, everyone here is a high performer. By the time you graduate and have your first post-MBA job, it’ll no longer be enough to do well on whatever you’re assigned. Instead, you’ll have to accomplish goals by leading teams and working with others. LEAD will teach you that great leaders are made and not born, and that we all have individual areas to work on to make us better leaders. Through the introspective approach to development, you’ll learn exactly what those areas are for you.

7. To succeed at Booth, you have to be humble. Aspects of LEAD are intentionally uncomfortable, especially as you learn how others see you. The key to the LEAD program is your ability to take what you learn constructively and to not become overly defensive. If you can’t force yourself to listen, these programs become very difficult. For example, one LEAD module looks at how you are initially perceived by your colleagues. I learned I am initially perceived as being direct, candid and tough (as opposed to being warm and non-judgmental), likely because I often rely on sarcasm. Getting feedback like this can initially be unsettling, but it’s also important information to learn. Knowing this, I can try to avoid sarcasm when meeting new people and try to make myself more approachable.

8. But humility doesn't mean we don’t compete. LEAD helps foster a sense of healthy competition. From Fall Frolics (a field day-like competition) to the Golden Gargoyles (the Oscars, but for Cohort-produced videos), your cohort will be competing against the other nine. Eventually, these competitions build into the year-long cohort cup sponsored by the Graduate Business Council. There are also opportunities to compete as an individual through LEAD, with things like day-long leadership and/or public speaking competitions. While we’re not allowed to disclose what actually happens at these competitions, the thing that surprised me most was the school’s ability to bring in incredible alumni judges (including top partners at some of the best-known consulting firms), which indicates how the culture and community built at Booth doesn't end with graduation.

9. The diversity at Booth means you can always learn something from your classmates. In the Class of 2015, 36% are international students and 49% were born outside the United States. With the huge multi-cultural community, LEAD devotes an entire session to living and working in a country other than your own. For U.S.-born students, you get a sense of how your actions can easily be misinterpreted in other cultures and how you can help make the transition for your international peers easier. For international students, the session demonstrates some of the cultural norms of working in the United States and how these may differ from other countries.

10. LEAD creates a shared experience with Booth Alumni. Just as LEAD starts to wind down, recruiting will kick into high gear (for those recruiting on-campus, at least). Since LEAD is the only required class at Booth, and since the experience is pretty unforgettable, you’ll instantly have something in common with the many Booth Alumni who come back to campus to recruit. It’s not uncommon to hear them talking about how much fun they had at the ropes course during LOR, how they've ended up using  what they learned in the presentation workshop  in their new jobs and/or how they’re still in touch with the people in their cohort. 

Meet the new “THE BOOTH EXPERIENCE” Team (Post 2 of 2)

Hi!,

This week we have the second installment of current Booth students who will be writing during the upcoming school year and sharing their experiences with you. Last week we introduced five of the members of the team (Meet the new "The Booth Experience" Team / Post 1 of 2). This week, we present to you the other four!

First of all,  we are proud to introduce Darren Spicer, our own former MLS Star!

Darren is a Southern California native and second-year student at Booth pursuing concentrations in finance and strategic management. He studied international politics and captained the varsity soccer team at Princeton before getting drafted by Chivas USA in Major League Soccer. He then went on to play professional soccer for five years across the US and Germany. And yes, he played against David Beckham. Before Booth Darren also coached youth soccer and coordinated camps in Southern California for Slammers FC, one of the top youth clubs in the country. This summer, he is interning with The Cambridge Group in Chicago, doing growth strategy consulting. He also loves to surf, snowboard, bike, bike, hike, and golf, and he's never met a spicy curry that he didn't like.

Next up, Jatin Jindal brings an enviable startup experience to the table...

Jatin is pursuing a summer internship at Amazon Web Services as a Product Manager. Prior to business school, he worked with multiple startups in several roles. He started Hellointern.com with some classmates as an undergrad and later sold it to Angaros Group in 2012. He also worked briefly in 2013 for a startup in cab service space - Bookmycab. Prior to that, Jatin worked in the Investment Banking Department of Credit Suisse from 2009 to 2013, advising clients engaged in oil & gas sector on raising capital as well as M&A transactions. He obtained a Bachelors of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

In his free time, Jatin loves to read books and go on short hiking trips. He is also passionate about Arsenal FC, and has been supporting them for more than a decade now!

Favorite Booth memory: traveling with my Booth classmates to different places like Fiji, Mexico and Florida. He is looking forward to another amazing year at Booth and many more such trips!

The editor of Chibus, our school's renowned newspaper, is also part of our group. Meet Tyler Kearn!,

Tyler is a rising second year Booth student and co-chair of the Chicago Business newspaper (chibus.com) and the Family Enterprise group. Prior to Booth, he worked for COIT Services, a nationwide specialty cleaning and restoration company, as well as CBS Interactive and the San Francisco Giants (Go Giants!). His interests and hobbies include hiking, travel, skiing, and movies (including “bad” movies – movies so bad, they’re good).  

Finally, and last but not least, we have Suzi Singh!, 

Suzi has a PHD in psychology and will be certainly psychoanalyzing the entire Booth community in her posts!

Suzi is a first year student at Booth pursuing a concentration in marketing management. She earned her bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to Booth, she was an assistant professor in an addiction studies program. This summer, she is a marketing intern at Campbell's Soup Company in Philadelphia. 

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Favorite Booth Memory: singing karaoke with friends at the LEAD retreat!

That’s it! We’ve introduced all 9 members of our team: Linda, Edward, Craig, Ignacio, Alex, Darren, Jatin, Tyler and Suzi

Once again, we are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you. We hope to give you valuable information and insights that can help you see another side of Chicago Booth.

Cheers for a wonderful year to come!

The Booth Experience Team