Amidst settling into my new role as Director of Graduate Career Services, I want to take some time to share some of my thoughts and ideas with you about what I’m seeing, hearing, and sensing of the current employment landscape. This is where the rebuilding starts.

First, though, let me say how excited I am to be “officially” joining the Mason School family! For the past several years I’ve been working in W&M’s Career Center as the liaison to the Mason BBA program. My move into MBA Career Services is a return to the arena that I spent over 20 years servicing.

I’ve had the good fortune of working in three Top 20 programs, directing two of them (Michigan and Yale).

As well, I spent several years as a recruiting director at Citibank (way before the current financial crisis) and have done my share of hiring MBAs. The current recession is the fifth that I’ve endured professionally.

My point is, I’ve learned a lot about job market behavior along the way, and I look forward to helping each of you to better navigate your way to the next stop in your respective career paths.

Analysis of the current economic climate has been beaten to death in the media, so I’m not going to go there at the moment.

Instead, I’d like to share with you what I’ve heard from employers that I met with several weeks ago in New York, while leading and assisting with student site visits to accounting, consulting, marketing, and I-banking firms.

You may have heard similar comments during the course of your job/internship search this year:

1. The best-prepared students will find the best career opportunities. Especially this year and next, you need to be dedicated to researching where you “fit” into organizations, and you need to be able to illustrate, by specific example, how you fit.

2. Uncertain economic conditions can also present unusual job opportunities. It is definitely worth your time to research the industries that “pick up” when the economy is in the tank.

3. Be sure to have a Plan B in place, especially this year and next. In some cases, a Plan C may be the best way to go. Not doing so will be shortchanging yourself.

So what does this all mean in terms of how Career Services can help you going forward?

Our job development efforts will continue to source full-time and internship opportunities at a variety of organizations – large, mid-size, and small.

We will be working in collaboration with our colleagues in Corporate and Alumni Relations to make this happen. As well, there will be changes coming in terms of how we in Career Services will be communicating the information you need to make informed career decisions.

In other words, you can expect Career Services to be out in front of the issues that concern you most about your job and internship prospects.
You will be hearing from me periodically on this page, and I invite you to chime in with your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Looking forward to meeting and working with each of you.

Please check back here next Tuesday, when I’ll be sharing my 30-day plan for Graduate Career Services.