Wall Street Internships On The Rise For MBA Students
American business school students are having an easier time landing the all-important summer internship on Wall Street this year, with some firms increasing their hiring by 10% to 20%.
After three years of dwindling summer job offers from investment banks during the bear market, the outlook at U.S. graduate school campuses is improving, say career center directors and corporate recruiters. A continued strong showing from the industry's bond businesses, along with a rosier outlook for stocks and investment banking deals, has bolstered firms' desire to train more MBA students for careers on Wall Street.
While the fall semester is prime time for hiring MBAs who will graduate in May, now is the time most banks and brokerage firms are making their final summer offers to first-year MBA students. Landing a summer internship is considered key to better full-time job opportunities next year, and at some investment banks, it's often one of the only ways to get a foot in the door.
While some firms say they aren't changing their recruiting strategy from 2003 - Citigroup Inc. (C) hasn't increased its summer internship hires this year because it says its recruiting levels don't fluctuate wildly with economic cycles - others have bumped up the number of newcomers they're willing to train this year. UBS AG (UBS) is recruiting 10% more interns this year than last, with its most active area in the corporate finance division of its investment banking unit. Morgan Stanley (MWD) is also hiring more, although it declined to divulge a number.
"Campus programs remained a cornerstone of our recruiting process throughout the downturn, but I would say that our hiring for internships has been trending upwards recently," said Eileen Stephan, executive director of firmwide recruiting at Morgan Stanley.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), considered the holy grail of internships by many MBA students, is increasing its summer hires by 20% over last year, to a grand total of 175 students. While Goldman Sachs still recruits at a core set of top-tier business schools like the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, this year the firm accepted more overtures from other schools in an effort increase hiring from diverse backgrounds, said Edie Hunt, the firm's global head of recruiting. Although Goldman didn't actually visit more campuses, it was more receptive to outreach by schools that aren't on its traditional recruiting stops, said Hunt, who added that summer hiring season is essentially finished now.
"We have seen more attention from senior managers devoted to MBA recruiting now than at any time in the past three years," said Hunt of the outlook for Wall Street-bound students.
'Breath Of Fresh Air'
Schools, too, have noticed the change. "Fortunately, the market has picked up and business has improved," said Peter Degnan, director of MBA career management at Wharton.
Although Wharton doesn't have final statistics yet, Degnan said the number of interviews taking place this year was up by a healthy margin, and the number of summer opportunities increased, in some cases significantly compared to years before. Gary Fraser, assistant dean of the office of career development at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, estimated Wall Street firms are showing double-digit percentage increases in their summer internship offerings.
"We were fortunate in the last couple of years in that we were among the five or six schools that a lot of banks continued to recruit at. We have a lot of alumni on Wall Street, and it's also very geographically convenient," said Fraser, whose campus is in Manhattan. "This year, we're seeing the same banks coming back, but they're hiring more."
School career center directors said they expect this year, more companies will also be scouting for students later in the spring for last-minute summer internship slots. While major firms like Goldman plan ahead for a certain number of interns and have made most of their offers by now, smaller firms and those with less proactive recruiting departments are likely to come calling in larger numbers than last year as the season winds down, they said.
"We're expecting quite a bit of just-in-time hiring," said Janet Richert, managing director of the office of career management at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.
The number of students who have to perform an internship for no pay is expected to decline this year as well, say recruiters. In bad economic times, more MBAs have had to resort to volunteerism for resume-building summer jobs, something that few needed to do at the height of the economic boom in the late 1990s. Such no-pay positions are expected to decrease this summer, as more companies resume their internship programs, but the need for students to volunteer won't disappear entirely, career counselors said.
"It's not like we've returned to the 1997-to-December 2000 time period, where the market was soaring. We're far, far from that. But compared to the last two academic years, when the market was dismal, this is a breath of fresh air," said Ken Keeley, executive director of the career opportunities center at Carnegie Mellon University's business school in Pittsburgh.
Still Courting Recruiters
Meanwhile, schools that aren't as convenient for recruiters to visit aren't leaving anything to chance following three years of depressed markets. Cornell University's Johnson School of Management is flying recruiters to its campus in Ithaca, N.Y. for the second year in a row on corporate jets provided by S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. and alumni. The effort, which last year resulted in twice as many students receiving summer job offers compared to 2002, is aimed at recruiters who otherwise wouldn't make a stop at the school's campus in upstate New York, said Karin Ash, director of the career management center.
"We debated about whether to do it again this year, but because the employment picture is still lagging behind the economic picture, we decided to go ahead," said Ash. "Probably next year we will do something different."
The University of Maryland's Smith School of Business has hired executive recruiting firm Stanton Chase International to help coach its students for interviews and connect more students with potential employers, also for the second year in a row.
"We realized (we) were going to have to find new ways to present students to prospective employers" in a slower market, said Richert, managing director of the office of career management. She added the school was able to place 85% of its students into jobs within three months of graduation last year, compared to 73% in 2002, when it hadn't used Stanton Chase.
For the first time this year, Carnegie Mellon arranged for its MBA students to interview in New York en masse in early January, by organizing a weeklong visit in classroom space the school leases downtown. The event attracted more than dozen companies that otherwise would not have made the trip to the school's campus in Pennsylvania, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER), said Keeley, executive director of the school's career opportunities center. The school ran a similar event for West Coast employers on its campus in Moffett Field, Calif., but that didn't draw as many companies, possibly because it wasn't planned as far ahead, he said.
"We're not trying to recruit like this on the East Coast and West Coast forever. The idea is, in this down market, let's make it easier for potential employers to re-engage with students," said Keeley.
MBA学生在华尔街实习的机会增加
美国商学院的学生今年夏季会比较容易获得在华尔街实习的宝贵机会，原因是一些华尔街公司将今年实习生的招聘数量增加了10%至20%。
美国商学院就业中心的主任们和公司招聘人员称，在过去3年股市低迷的时期，投资银行提供的夏季工作职位连年减少；而现在，美国商学院毕业生的就业前景正在改善。华尔街的债券业务表现持续强劲，股市和投资银行交易的前景也变得乐观，这使得华尔街投行更愿意为MBA学生提供实习的机会，为他们将来到华尔街工作打下基础。
秋季学期是下一年5月份毕业的MBA学生最主要的择业期。而现在这个时候正是大多数银行和经纪行向一年级MBA学生发放夏季实习录取通知的时期。获得夏季实习机会往往意味著一只脚已经踏进了华尔街。在一些投资银行，获得实习机会往往是进入这些公司的唯一途径。
尽管一些公司表示，今年的招聘计划与去年相比没有变化。例如，花旗集团(Citigroup Inc.,C)今年就没有增加夏季实习生的数量，公司表示花旗的招聘数量不会随著经济周期的变动而进行大幅调整。但是其他一些公司大幅增加了实习生的招聘数量。瑞士银行(UBS AG,UBS)今年招聘的实习生数量比去年增加了10%，其中投行业务公司金融部门招聘的实习生数量最多。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley,MWD)也准备招兵买马，但是它拒绝透露具体数字。
摩根士丹利负责全公司招聘的执行总监艾琳?史蒂芬(Eileen Stephan)说，"校园计划在经济不景气期间一直是我们整个招聘过程中的一块基石，但是我得说我们对实习生的招聘数量最近一直处于上升趋势。"
高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,GS)是许多MBA学生心目中的"圣地"。该公司今年夏季招聘实习生的数量比去年增加了20%还多，总数量达到175名。高盛全球招聘主管艾迪?亨特(Edie Hunt)称，尽管高盛仍在宾夕法尼亚州大学(University of Pennsylvania)的沃顿商学院(Wharton School)等顶尖商学院中招聘，但今年该公司接受了更多其他学校发出的邀请，使招聘学生的背景更加多元化。亨特说，虽然高盛并没有到更多的校园举行招聘，但是与以前相比，公司对通常不会造访的学校发出的邀请持接受的态度。他补充说，高盛的夏季招聘季节现在已经基本结束。
在谈及准备投身华尔街的那些学生的工作前景时，亨特说，"今年，高级经理们对MBA招聘的关注程度超过过去3年的任何一个时候。"
一缕新鲜空气
学校也注意到了这一变化。沃顿商学院的MBA就业管理主任彼得?迪克南(Peter Degnan)说，"幸运的是，市场开始上扬，公司业绩得到改善。"
尽管还没有最终数据，迪克南仍然表示，今年面试的数量大幅见长，夏季工作机会增加，某些领域较往年有了极大的改善。纽约大学(New York University)斯特恩商学院(Leonard N. Stern School of Business)就业发展办公室的助理主任格雷?弗雷泽(Gary Fraser)估计，华尔街公司夏季实习生招聘数量出现了两位数的增长。
弗雷泽说，"在过去几年我们还算幸运，因为我们是许多银行持续招聘的5-6所学校之一。我们在华尔街有很多校友。从地理位置上来看，校址就在曼哈顿也使得公司到学校进行招聘非常方便。今年来到校园的还是同样的几家银行，但他们招聘的学生数量增加了。"
学校就业中心的主任们预计，今年将有更多公司在春季末抓紧最后一刻到学校寻找实习生。尽管诸如高盛之类的公司提前安排好招聘实习生的数量，并且到现在已经发出了大部分的录用通知，但一些小型公司以及未提前筹划招聘的公司可能会在最后一刻来到校园，招聘比去年更多的实习生。
马利兰大学(University of Maryland)罗伯特?H?史密斯商学院(Robert H. Smith School of Business)就业管理办公室主任珍尼特?里克特(Janet Richert)说，"我们预计将有大量公司赶最后一班车。"
招聘人员说，无薪实习的学生数量预计今年也将减少。在经济低迷时期，许多MBA学生不得不以志愿者的身份参加实习，以达到充实简历的目的。在上个世纪九十年代末期经济繁荣的时候，几乎没有MBA学生需要采取这种方式。现在越来越多的公司重新恢复了实习生招募计划，预计今年夏季无薪实习的工作职位将有所减少。但就业顾问人员称，这种需求并不会完全消失。
卡耐基-梅隆大学(Carnegie Mellon University)位于匹茨堡的商学院的就业中心主任肯?基利(Ken Keeley)说，"现在还远远没有回到1997年至2000年12月的市场飙升时期。但是与市场低迷的过去两年相比，这是一股新鲜的空气。"
学校仍各显神通招徕公司
与此同时，在3年的市场低迷过后，那些招聘者不方便访问的学校没有坐等机会。康乃尔大学(Cornell University)的约翰逊管理研究生院(Johnson School of Management)连续第二年用S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.和校友提供的飞机将招聘人员送往其位于纽约州伊萨卡的校园。该校就业管理中心主任卡林?阿什(Karin Ash)说，此举主要针对那些本不打算前往纽约州北部校园的招聘人员。去年，这项措施导致该学校学生收到的夏季工作录用通知数量较2002年增长了一倍。
阿什称，"今年我们对是否再次采取这一做法进行了讨论。但由于就业形势仍然落后于经济状况，我们还是决定这么做。也许明年我们将采取另外的方式。"
马里兰州罗伯特?H?史密斯商学院聘请了Stanton Chase International帮助培训学生的面世技巧，并帮助更多学生与潜在雇主建立联系，这也是该公司连续第二年采取这种做法。
就业管理办公室主任里克特说，"我们认识到，在一个低迷的市场，必须找到将学生推荐给雇主的新方式。"她补充说，去年85%的学生在毕业后的3个月之内找到了工作，而在未聘请Stanton Chase的2002年，这一比例为73%。
卡耐基-梅隆大学今年1月份首次安排MBA学生在纽约进行整体面试，学校在下城区租用了一间教室大小的空间举行为期一周的面试活动。学校就业中心主任基利说，这吸引了超过12家原本不打算访问该校宾夕法尼亚州校园的公司，其中包括摩根大通(J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.,JPM)和美林(Merrill Lynch & Co.,MER)等。学校还在加州莫菲特校区为西海岸的公司安排了一个类似的活动，但是并没有吸引到很多公司。基利说，这也许是安排不够早的缘故。
基利说，"我们不会在东海岸和西海岸长期举行这样的就业活动。我们的想法是，在市场低迷的时候，要让潜在雇主招聘学生变得更容易一些。"
