This year, there is less patience for development of talent. Ask tough questions on how the firm is managing through the recession, what are their competitors doing that keeps them up at night -- don't grovel for points, its easy to see a mile away. If you have experience in recessionary topics in your background, now is the time to bring them to the forefront. That means cost-cutting or innovation.
This year, there is less patience for development of talent. Companies are looking for individuals that are professionally-ready, so be in that category. Ask tough questions on how the firm is managing through the recession, what are their competitors doing that keeps them up at night, etc — don’t grovel for points, its easy to see a mile away.
If you have experience in recessionary topics in your background, now is the time to bring them to the forefront. That means cost-cutting (as unsexy as it may be) or innovation. On the former, experience in process redesign, shared services, etc will be of interest to recruiters — its germane to the current times. On the latter, many companies, while hunkering down now, are still trying to see around the corner. So experience in innovation (however, broadly you want to define it) will be interesting — so what have been involved in that pushes the frontier in business (e.g., social media, crowdsourcing, global business practices, etc). A recruit that can show affinity to the current environment stands out over others.
Bottom line, it will be a tough job market, now is the time to be aggressive and focused.
Aveek Guha
President, MBA Day Camp
www.mbadaycamp.com
