MBA Radar - Identify and engage with candidates before they apply

If you regularly recruit MBAs, you probably have a shortlist of business schools where you are quite active - connecting with student clubs, attending career fairs, interviewing on campus, etc. You probably also have another list of schools where you remotely brand your company and post your jobs in order to receive applications from suitable and interested candidates.

The more experienced you are in MBA recruiting, the more familiar you would be in the importance of timing and that the earlier you engage with candidates, the stronger and cheaper it is to build your employer brand, and to identify the ones to whom you should dedicate your limited time and resources.

For these reasons, you do not want to wait until candidates apply to know who is interested, in what type of position, in what geography (if applicable), etc. Your competition is already all over the place by that time. You really would like to know this as soon as possible as it would help you maximize your impact where you go on campus and to engage, even remotely, with other candidates where you are not on-campus.

As you may know, we are passionate about helping employers recruit the right candidates for them, efficiently and effectively. It is therefore quite natural for us to launch the MBA Radar – a tool for candidates to express their interest in selected employers very early in the recruitment process. Reciprocally, it helps employers identify these candidates before they apply, sort them by school or by their answers to custom questions, send targeted emails, and much more. It is a great and very affordable tool to manage and export the candidate pipeline and leverage limited recruiting resources.

What do you think? We would welcome your feedback. Interested to know more or want to see a demo? Please email mbaradar@mba-exchange.com

Networking among classmates

You probably all know about the power of networking. I just ran a survey to see how much networking is actually taking place among classmates and am eager to see the results.

Looking at the people around me, I presume most people are much more connected *offline* with their classmates than they are *online*. In other words, they *really know* many more people than they are *connected* with on a social professional network like LinkedIn. Why is that? Any ideas?

Please type your comments or call me directly about this (+41223434747) or email me to discuss (Bilal (at) MBA-Exchange.com). I would be happy to share with you how to make it much easier for classmates to connect and how to leverage LinkedIn in more powerful ways.

Stay tuned on this topic. We have a lot to share in the coming weeks.

In your job search, Start with Why

**START WITH WHY** by Simon Sinek is by far the best book I have read in a long time. www.startwithwhy.com

I highly recommend it.

Not only because it offers an unconventional perspective that explains WHY some people and organizations are more innovative, more profitable, command greater loyalties from customers and employees alike.

Not only because it can help any business to differentiate itself and attract the right employees, partners and customers, which results in happier employees, customers and shareholders.

But also because it is equally applicable for job search.

In a nutshell, most people and organizations communicate from the outside-in. We sell computers. They are blablabla. I am a consultant. I help with blablabla. In contrast, inspired companies and leaders think, act and communicate from the inside-out. We believe in challenging the status quo... and we happen to sell computers. I am passionate about... and I happen to advise clients...

People do not buy WHAT you do. They buy WHY you do it.


I believe the same applies to job search. Most job seekers (and advisers) spend most of their energy on the WHAT and the HOW. What job, What CV, What cover letter, etc. Idem re How to present, How to interview, How to network, etc. Very few focus on the WHY. Why do you want to be a banker, consultant, marketer, etc? Why are you passionate about what you want to do? I will elaborate on this later. (note -- money, prestige, recognition, etc are Whats. they are not Whys)

In the meantime, if the above resonates with you, I would love to hear from you.


Bilal Ojjeh
Founder of MBA-Exchange.com

Launch of first MBA Recruiter Guide

With so many business schools, each with its own particularities, graduation dates, and recruiting options, it is no wonder that recruiting the right MBAs for you can get very complicated. We asked top business schools to help us compile this MBA Recruiter Guide and were very happy that 64 schools across the globe responded positively, from California to Continental Europe to Australia.

Whatever MBA profile you are looking for, from industry experience to language skills, this guide is a first step to identify and target the right schools and the right MBAs for you (for the second step, contact us ).

Finally, this guide is for YOU --- so voice your opinion and share your thoughts to improve it for the next edition.

Informational Interviews -- the most effective and yet often neglected job search tool

Let me first clarify what Informational interviews is not:
NOT about networking your way to find a job per-se
NOT about contacting people and handing your CV
NOT about asking for job leads inside companies

The objective of informational interviews is to help you
1) identify / confirm what really interests you
2) be very / more knowledgeable about your target marketplace
3) identify the various channels that can land you the target job
4) idenfify job opportunities in the hidden market (where the job is not advertised)

To do so,
a) IDENTIFY -- Use your network (school, groups, personal) to identify people that are knowledgeable about your target marketplace, including but not only people currently working there.
b) CONNECT -- Present yourself in one-paragraph or 20-second. Highlight things that you might have in common with the interviewee. Ask them to schedule a time to share with you their insights about the marketplace. Important -- Do not send your CV, even if they ask for it. You would get a lot more by getting their insights / connecting with them.
c) LEARN -- Ask your questions and learn. Trends, who is doing what, pluses and minuses of the job, etc.
d) EXTEND -- Ask for 2-3 people you could contact for further information. Again, do not ask for job leads.
e) THANK your interviewee with a follow-up note. Later on, let them know how the discussions with the contacts they gave you went.

If you do the above, you will really know what is going on in the marketplace: Who, what, where, with whom, when, what it takes to succeed, the alternative entry points, etc.

You will also develop a network on the way -- another plus for your new job.

Comments / feedback most welcome.


Bilal Ojjeh