Adventures in Recruiting-Land

I haven’t talked much on this blog about what I do up here. For those not in the know, I am a “Recruiting Associate” in the Tuck Career Development Office (CDO.) Basically, it is my job to find Dan a job. Well, sort of.

And yes, I know, given my own spastic resume it IS ironic that I am now working in a career office. Though actually, I am really liking it. The people are great and they really go above and beyond, as some of the below tales will show. (Others will not.)

Basically, we do several things here in the CDO:
1. On-Campus Recruiting – from application process to interview logistics
2. Career Events – from “Sector Smarts” and “Company Briefings” in the fall to directed industry treks to… you get the idea.
3. Career Counseling – from mock interviewing to soul searching.
4. Recruiting 2.0 – for when not everyone gets a job through On-Campus.
5. Statistics – the ones you read in Business Weekly or US News & World Report.
6. Laugh at the students (occasionally) (When they deserve it.)

And so forth.

These past few weeks have been crazy as On-Campus Recruiting for first-year internships has kicked into high gear. But now, as things are beginning to taper off I thought I would share some highlights from my first recruiting season.

1. Resume Hilarity. Tuck runs like a well-oiled machine or… more appropriately, an incredibly efficient business. As such we prepare our recruiters with every piece of information they could conceivably need. This includes students’ resumes. We have them printed, organized, and placed in folders for each and every recruiter. Unfortunately, it isn’t always that simple. And some companies just don’t seem to appreciate it.
a. A student comes in one day, very sheepishly with a stack of new resumes. Why? He spelled his name wrong on the ones that went out, officially, to interviewing companies. Ooops. Two days later, he’s back. Wrong phone number. Not to mention the (two) times he came in to ask which way the resume paper should be fed into the printer. (for the record, watermark facing up.)
b. A student comes in one day, confused, because he just finished an interview and the resume they had for him was strange. To be precise, it had a nice little picture of him pasted right at the top. He wanted to know if we did this kind of thing often. Needless to say, we don’t. The resumes WE provide are standard, picture-free. I forget which company he was interviewing with, but I hope he hesitated before taking an offer. That’s just a bit creepy… (we still don’t know where they got the picture.)

2. Operation Sneak Student Into Interview: The back-story. A student comes into the CDO in a minor panic because he’s just finished a second-round interview with one company and has a first-round with a different company in less than a hour. The problem? He just spent his entire interview explaining to a suspicious HR recruiter why he wanted to switch industries despite his consulting background and his subsequent first-round interview is with a consulting company. The bigger problem? The interview rooms are across the hall from one another. He came seeking advice and my initial impulse was to tell him not to sweat it – recruiters understand this is how life works. Recruiters are people too. Oh how little I knew. Our director gets wind of the issue and she thinks it is most definitely a problem. Next thing I know the CDO is in a flutter. We’re poring over floor plans of Whittemore (our main interview building,) and discussing possibilities from disguises (you think I’m kidding, but I’m not) to straight up lies. Our solution? Our director runs interference – literally creating a diversion with company 1 while we sneak the student through the kitchens, up a secret stairwell and into his interview with company 2. The crazy part is, it worked.

3. Dan has a doppelganger: So Dan, as a first-year student is obviously participating in our ongoing On-Campus recruiting. In particular, he loves Company X. Well, funnily enough, I’ve been hearing about Company X since I started work in the CDO and since our Directors/Associate Directors met Dan… because apparently there is a Tuck alum who works for Company X and bears a “striking resemblance” to Dan. Now first let me say, he doesn’t look so much like Dan. They have similar coloring and are of a similar height and the doppelganger also wears glasses. But our Director is convinced he not only looks “just like Dan” they have similar mannerisms and personality. Which is why, clearly, Dan is destined to work for Company X. If only they (doppelganger and Dan) could meet face-to-face. More on that, below.

4. Dan’s Doppelganger, Part 2; Kerry Finds Herself in an Interview: Now, aside from a grainy picture from an old “Tuck Facebook” I’d never seen Dan’s alleged doppelganger, actually, until last week when he came to interview Tuck students… including Dan. He was one of three interviewers from Company X and Dan was slated to be interviewed by someone else. Initially. So I am making polite small talk with the doppelganger as he checks in, (and seriously, not seeing the big resemblance although the doppelganger is very nice) gets his recruiter folder, etc. And then I notice he’s started to shuffle the resumes. Bad! I ask him if everything is ok and he says sure but he and the other interviewers have swapped students they know for students they don’t know. And then I notice he’s got Dan’s resume right on top of his pile. Of course this is when he asks me “how my husband’s interviews are going and is he looking any place in particular.” Me: “Well, um, actually… that’s his resume right there.” Doppelganger: “Interesting. So, does he like [Company X?]” Next thing you know I’m being grilled on Company X. For the next ten minutes. Fortunately, as I’ve said, Dan LOVES Company X and so I could be completely honest. Of course Dan was confused when mid-interview the doppelganger asked him what his wife thought of Company X. Oops.

5. Dan’s Doppelganger, Part 3: Awkward moment. Doppelganger to me at the end of my “interview:” “Wait. Your husband’s not the one Becky (CDO Co-Director) says reminds her of me?” Me: “Um… no comment.”

6. The Students: So the students are beginning to know me. As Dan’s wife and/or “that girl from the CDO.” Either way I’m at a party recently when one student says to me, “so isn’t it kind of awkward for you, working in the CDO? I mean, what if you have to turn us down for an internship or something?” Me: Well, you know I don’t actually decide who gets an internship. I mean, the company decides that.” Let’s be clear: I am a VERY junior member of this organization and I have no affiliation with any of the recruiting companies whatsoever. But is it wrong that I was flattered anyone thinks I have so much power?

7. And for everyone that thinks I have too much power, proof that others ignore me altogether: Suits vs. No-Suits: We literally receive all manner of questions here in the CDO. Everything from salary stats and negotiation tips to… questions of a sartorial nature. So, I receive an email from a student asking me the proper attire for an evening networking event (Side note: before I started working here I didn’t know there is a difference between skirt suits and pantsuits. As in, one is more appropriate for certain industries than the other. For women. Not sure of the protocol for men in skirt suits. Hm.) Anyway, I respond to the aforementioned student saying that as a rule we suggest suits unless the invite explicitly states business casual. End of story. I thought. But a few hours later I get a second email saying… “Is that party line as in everyone actually wears it, or that’s what you say, but everyone actually wears business casual?” Because apparently word of my advice had spread, spawning an anti-suit movement in response. The students have decided to present a united anti-suit front, apparently. And who’s at the forefront: DAN REED (who emails me saying “I heard about your advice but I don’t want to be the only one there in a suit” so… sorry.) Sigh.

Of course these are just the tip of the iceberg… my days have been filled with questions from recruiters, questions from students about recruiters, scheduling interviews, rescheduling interviews, offering advice on what to do when you have one interview in New York and another in Boston (at the same time) (Can’t say I was much help there,) and occasionally running sales pitches for our upcoming recruiting event in Boston. Oh and ogling the Robert Pattinson 12-month calendar someone hung in the copy room. Actually, he’s kind of creepy-looking. And I can’t say I enjoy the way he seems to stare at me as I retrieve documents from the printer.

But at least life in the CDO is never dull…