You're looking for a job? Now? Haven't a lot of companies already wrapped up their hiring for the year, at least until fall? Maybe, but
there's still plenty for the taking. Sure, it's late spring, and you may be feeling like the kid on the playground who didn't get picked for kickball. But you've mastered decision trees, bought a fetching suit, and polished your resumé to a nice shine. You're ready to pounce on the first great opportunity that comes along, and we have word that it might come along soon. "Companies are realizing that they may need more people than they thought they needed six or 12 months ago," says one former Goldman Sachs recruiter. "When the hiring boom comes, it's going to come quickly, and not everyone can fill their needs with MBAs recruited on an academic cycle. Why? Because the lead time between hiring an MBA and having him walk into your company can be a year, and that's just too long."
The trick, then, is to make sure you're the one standing outside the next door a recruiter opens. To help you get there, we asked top recruiters and career strategists for some last-minute pointers. Their tips might help you land your dream job--before someone else lands it first.
KNOW YOUR INDUSTRY
Small companies, scattershot hiring.
The larger the firm, the more likely it hires by the gross. Submitting your resumé to such a company in May will reveal an unflattering cluelessness on your part. "Many bigger companies, particularly investment banks and consulting firms, tend to hire by volume," says Jackie Wilbur, director of career development at MIT's Sloan School of Management. Let the megacompanies shop for bulk talent in the fall while you pinpoint small but robust firms that may have open positions at off times. "Focus on mid-cap and small-cap companies," says David Fetherston, director of the MBA Center for Career Development at Babson's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.
Meet the latecomers.
Also arriving late at the party are tech and pharmaceuticals companies, as well as the media and entertainment industry. "Tech companies, even the larger ones, often do their hiring quarter by quarter, rather than in the fall," says Wilbur. "They're not so fixated on a recruiting 'season.' "
No rules.
Private equity. Venture capital. Hedge funds. Firms in these areas can offer excellent job opportunities--whenever they damn well please. "At, say, venture capital firms, it can take as long as a year or two after graduation before a new MBA finds a job, even when he's working the whole time," says Richard McNulty, director of career development at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Be patient. Be vigilant. And be ready to pounce the first time a firm shows even the faintest interest.
Nonprofits have nonschedules.
If there's any industry that dances to its own ditty when it comes to hiring schedules, it's nonprofits. What's that you say? They don't pay enough? Think, for a moment, of the other benefits. "Have you ever looked at who's on the board of the United Way in a major city? They're always heavy hitters," says Mindy Storrie, director of MBA career services at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School. That means a year or two spent at a prestigious nonprofit can yield a career's worth of contacts.
INSIDE INFORMATION
Lay off the web.
Don't try to Google your way into a job. "There's a tendency to spend too much time looking at job boards online," says McNulty. "If you're serious about landing a job in May, you need to put yourself out there, beat down doors, network with every friend and friend of a friend and family member you have. You're much more likely to find a good job through your dad's squash partner than through jobs.com."
Know the basics (for starters).
The eleventh-hour candidate needs to know a lot more than what was in the last earnings report, so scanning a Web site isn't going to cut it in terms of research. "Show me how you can add value immediately," says Dana Brooks, staffing and diversity manager in Bayer HealthCare's consumer care division. "Find out what new products or initiatives we're launching a month from now, six months from now. Mention them in your cover letter, bring up your ideas about them during the interview." Scour trade publications. Pump friends for information. Pose as a delivery person and infiltrate the mail room. (Just kidding. Seriously, don't do that.)
REACH OUT
Warm up.
Relationships with corporate recruiters are like apple trees: You grow them, you maintain them, and you don't forget about them just because it's cold out. It's been two months since you spoke with the hiring manager you met at a career fair? Call her. "Don't think of it as cold-calling," says Jenna Sheldon, an assistant vice president of corporate strategic recruitment at L'Oréal USA. "It's more like warm-calling. In May, the relationship is going to depend much more on your legwork and your willingness to travel to the company since many firms are less likely to pay for you to come to them off-cycle." Tell her you've been thinking about the issues facing her company, and you'd like to discuss your ideas. A good opening line: " 'I'm going to be in your area next week. Would you have time to meet?' "
THE PACKAGE
Focus, focus, focus.
Candidates engaged in a long-term job search have room to be generalists, impressing recruiters with their versatility-brand management skills, client relations experience, tuba-playing prowess. You, on the other hand, do not. "A last-minute candidate is going to have to show me he's much more narrowly focused and committed to a particular field and to my company," says Sheldon. Recruiters will be much more interested in your knowledge of the nuts and bolts of a specific job than, say, your brilliant analytical skills in solving interview brain-games like how many phone booths there are in New York City.
Remember the basics.
Just because it's not cattle-call season doesn't mean your conduct won't be scrutinized. Show up on time. At a consulting firm, be prepared for case questions. Emphasize your leadership and entrepreneurial skills, not your GPA. Be nice to assistants. Don't talk about hobbits.
Have a nugget. Any nugget.
Have you sat down and thought about--really thought about--the essence of your candidacy? "What's the one thing you want me to know about you?" says a former McKinsey recruiter. "Open on that one thing, close on that one thing, and make sure everything you say in between echoes that one thing. This is much more important now than in the fall."
And another thing.
Get that piece of spinach out of your teeth. Other side.
THE PITCH
Polish your act.
You thought your pitch was important when you started looking for a job. It was--but not compared with how crucial it is now. "Prepare your 'elevator stories' that demonstrate your skills are polished and ready to go," says Al Chase, an executive recruiter for Sales Consultants of Wellesley, an executive recruiting firm in Massachusetts. "If you made it through business school, we already know you're smart--just like all your classmates. Have some anecdotes about how you started a business, how you organized a symposium or lemonade stand or business-model contest at your school."
So, what exactly have you been doing with yourself?
Make sure you have a story that explains why you're on the market now. Whether you were off finding yourself in Tibet or gunning for a job at another company, provide a detailed account of how you've been spending your time--and how it has made you a better person. "If someone calls me in May and says, 'Look, I had my heart set on a position at Johnson & Johnson, but it fell through at the last minute,' well, I can understand that," says Brooks.
Last-minute job-getters can't be choosers.
If you're lucky enough to score a walk-in table at the hottest restaurant in town--the one with the month-long waiting list--you don't demand a window seat, do you? Accordingly, while you should never sell yourself out to a potential employer, neither should you be a diva. The company offers two weeks of vacation and you wanted three? You'll live. They don't pay moving expenses? Find a way. Also, "Be prepared for an immediate hire, which happens a lot when companies have last-minute holes to fill," says Babson's Fetherston.
Key words are key.
"Think about what recruiters do: They interview you, then they go tell other people in their organization about you," says the former McKinsey recruiter. "You need to make it easy for them to sell your qualifications to other people. What do you want them to say about you? Give them ammo to fight for you."
When talking turkey, hold the turkey.
This is no time to haggle about money. "A candidate, especially an MBA, should already have a good idea of what an industry pays," says Brooks. "If, during an interview, a last-minute candidate broaches the subject and demonstrates he doesn't know the salary range for a particular type of position, it shows us he needs to do more research and go back to career services at his school."
Think outside the payroll.
When it comes to getting some playing time late in the game, be creative. "That can even mean offering yourself as a temp or even an intern--two totally dignified options," says UNC's Storrie. Only by taking advantage of a small opportunity can you show a company why it should give you a bigger one.
The future is now.
If you've enlisted the services of a headhunter, focus on the arc of your career, not on landing a job at the first blessed place that will hire you. "A lot of people contact us--and we cold call a lot of people--when they're at jobs they don't particularly love or when they want to move to another location in the next year or two," says Pam Esterson, a recruiter at a New York firm specializing in private equity and banking. "Let us know what you're looking for long-term and we'll keep our eyes out for you."
Chin up, pal.
Finding a job without the assistance of career-services people and B-school job fairs is no easy task. A lot of talented people are looking for work. If you're feeling crappy about looking for work at the eleventh hour, your lack of confidence will show in interviews. "Do whatever you have to do to keep from getting depressed, whether it's going away for the weekend or eating ice cream," says Storrie. "If you find yourself unable to mail another cover letter, go vent to a career-development counselor." Then go to the gym and work off that pint of Chubby Hubby. You still have to look good in your interview suit.
