The Duke Network

We’re one week into term two, and recruiting season is on in full force. Thankfully, it seems like classes this term are a bit easier in terms of workload, allowing the consulting and finance hopefuls to spend more time on the job search process. The difference around campus is palpable: job apps are a frequent topic of conversation, and MMS students form a substantial presence at information sessions. In the consulting club, our membership has grown from 28 to 43 in the past week alone, now approaching half the program! Of course not everyone in the club is pursuing consulting with quite the same vigor, but our attendance almost doubled at the last mock interview session, so clearly some students have realized that they have some preparation to do – and quickly!

Common Networking Mistakes

Tonight I want to talk about networking, both from an institutional and personal perspective. In our business communications class and various workshops, the CMC (Career Management Center) has continually emphasized the importance of networking in finding a job. Most students understand that networking is important and can help with the job search process, but surprisingly few take it to heart and actually adapt their strategies to take advantage of networking opportunities. For example, BCG hosted an information session on Monday, and while the attendance was enormous (>100 for each of two sessions), I would estimate that about 2/3 of the attendees left immediately after the main powerpoint presentation, missing valuable face time with current employees. Simply by sticking around for 20 extra minutes, I was able to have meaningful conversations with three different employees, learning valuable information and also developing contacts for future advice or guidance. Of the 1/3 that did stick around, probably more than half didn’t make lasting impressions on the BCG employees or follow up with thank you e-mails, so their networking attempts may have been for naught. Suddenly I felt as though my competition had thinned.

Why did 5/6 or more of the info session attendees fail to network effectively? I believe I have some insight into this, since I would have fallen into that group last year. Although some may have had legitimate reasons (e.g. another obligation that night), my theory is that the vast majority don’t have what I call the “networking psyche.” Instead, people in this category hold one or more of the following naïve beliefs:

• I’m well qualified for consulting with a high GPA and great resume. Any company would be lucky to have me, so I shouldn’t have to expend additional effort meeting people
• I’m introverted and feel too uncomfortable to approach a representative with a question
• I haven’t researched the company enough to ask an intelligent question (despite having just seen the company’s presentation)
• I’ve researched the company a lot and don’t have any questions or need more information

Furthermore, these same people tend to hold negative views on networking. They view it as selling out, brown nosing, and putting up a façade. They may also feel a degree of self pity for not having family connections to their industry of choice by sheer coincidence. You’ve probably encountered someone like this before: “Joe is so lucky – I wish MY dad were a partner at Morgan Stanley!”

I know all this because I identified with all of the above opinions to some extent last recruiting season. I had a terrible strategy of blast e-mailing a generic resume and cover letter to dozens of companies across finance, consulting, and other industries. I applied to companies I had never heard of, I went into interviews having only read the company's website, and I blundered through case interviews having done a total of 0 practice cases beforehand. As far as networking is concerned, the most I had done was attend a couple of information sessions here and there without talking to any reps personally. Looking back, I’m surprised I even got first round interviews to half the places I did.

The Networking Psyche

This year, my strategy has completely changed. First and foremost, I discovered that I’m actually really interested in management, and especially strategy, consulting. Last year I applied to a few consulting firms, but I hadn’t done the due diligence on the industry or specific firms, so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. Over the spring and summer, I read books, talked to current and former consultants, read company websites, and started practicing cases. What I’ve found is that the more research I’ve done, the more I see consulting as the perfect fit for my interests. At the same time, by researching finance and other opportunities, I was able to rule out industries that aren’t as attractive to me. Sounds extremely simple, and it is, but you’d be surprised at how many students make the same mistakes I did.

With a renewed mindset and focus, I’m much more excited for this recruiting season than last year’s. Here’s where the Duke Network comes into play: Duke makes it extremely easy to network with industry professionals; all that’s required is a bit of effort. First, I have access to searchable databases of Duke and Fuqua alumni that list name, employer, job title, office location, and contact information. Let’s say I want to find Fuqua alumni working in finance in New York City. A quick search comes up with 92 results! I can now e-mail some of those 92 and request an informational interview, and bam! I have a connection. Besides access to alumni, Duke offers the following networking opportunities:

• Information Sessions
• Career Fairs
• Industry-Specific Symposiums
• Panel Discussions
• Case Competitions
• Fuqua-Sponsored City Vists (e.g. A Week on Wall Street)
• Other Miscellaneous Events (e.g. Accenture's “speed networking” event on Friday)

At each of these events, there are opportunities to meet current employees. Those employees can connect you to others, and so forth. For evidence of just how many on-campus opportunities we have, check out our consulting club's new website calendar, which contains many but not all consulting related events coming up. Many companies even have a Duke-specific website recruiting page (see Bain's as an example). Furthermore, while networking for companies that recruit on campus is great, networking for boutique firms is even better. According to my career coach, "80% of jobs do not have online postings and are found solely through networking." Thus, these jobs have minimal competition, and making a strong connection at a boutique firm can have a lot of sway in securing your dream job.

Additionally, by being an MMS student, you’re connected to the Fuqua Network of current students. My classmates have worked in various industries and have personal friends in just about every company you can think of, and there’s nothing better than a personal connection. I’ve already connected classmates with some of my friends at Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Google. Besides classmates, we have our mentors who are MBA grads and have friends all over, and we have professors, career counselors, admins, etc. who can all connect us to people they know. The bottom line is that networking is made incredibly easy. Not “naturally” having friends/family in a specific industry is a terrible excuse – my dad works for the Corps. of Engineers, and my mom’s a retired elementary school teacher, yet I guarantee with a few simple steps I could make a connection to any major consulting firm at any office location in the US.

Even given so many opportunities to network, many students will fail to do so. I changed my mindset completely from last year, from viewing networking as a cheap way to compensate for a lack of qualifications to viewing it as a natural part of the job search process. It should be natural, too: there’s no way you can learn everything you need to know simply by reading a company’s website; you have to talk to people. Networking is a learned skill, and for me, the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. I now approach company representatives wanting to learn more about what they do and whether the firm’s culture is the right fit for me – the job placement benefits will follow. I don’t want to spend too much time lecturing about the importance of networking; if you matriculate to the MMS program, your professors and career counselors will do plenty of that. Rather, I want to make the point that for those students in our program who have truly changed their mindsets to become active networkers, the opportunities to network within the Duke community are endless; the only limitation is a scarcity of time.

A Winning Strategy

For some of you, all of this about networking may seem apparent and ordinary, but let me assure you that it’s not. I certainly took for granted in undergrad the fact that most major finance and consulting companies recruit on campus and offer information sessions, but having MMS friends in the program that come from less prestigious undergraduate schools has opened my eyes to how privileged we really are. I couldn’t believe it when one friend told me that at his undergraduate school, they didn’t have an equivalent to our e-recruiting system, the streamlined on-campus recruiting website where you can type in a company’s name and find all events and job postings (this is also where you store documents and apply for positions). In the MMS program, my feeling is that those who put forth the effort to find a job will be successful. No matter what your background, you are now among the most privileged job seekers in the United States, and on top of a world class education you have all of the networking advantages that lead to job placement. Personally, I feel that my approach to the recruiting season this year is a cannot fail strategy. I’m applying to a fraction of the number of companies as I did last year and targeting only consulting companies that I would be really happy to work for, yet my confidence level is through the roof.