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

Knowledge is Free

Together with our new homepage, we have launched our MBA Live Sessions -- online meetings where presenters can share a presentation, chat live with participants, conduct a quick poll, share their screens, etc -- all from their desktops.

Our objective is to bring valuable knowledge (related to careers but not only) to our members. For this, we will invite keynote speakers to share their insights on the topics that interest our members the most (free of charge for attendants).

As long as the topic is Knowledge Sharing as opposed to self-promotion, we are happy to offer this platform free of charge to the presenters too. If you have a topic you would like to present or if you would like to recommend a speaker, we will be happy to hear from you.

Topics so far:
- A Successful Career Search: Differentiating Yourself and Your Approach
- The 4 Traps that Keep Women from Reaching the Top and How to Avoid them
- Creating job opportunities within the financial services sector

All feedback is most welcome, including how useful this is, topics you would like to see, presenters you recommend, etc.

New Home Page

How do you like the new look of our home page?

We've updated our home page to make it easier and more direct for you (i.e. we removed the intro page) to access the new jobs, online events, etc... and we have added a new section "LIVE SESSIONS" where we will host MBA events with keynote speakers on topical themes to discuss. We also created this blog to share with you our developments and to have a more open forum to hear your feedback (including your recommendations on what to develop on MBA-Exchange.com).

If you encounter bugs/issues or have feedback, go ahead, post your comment here!

Welcome to the MBA-Exchange.com Blog

We are launching our Blog to share with you what is on our minds and to easily collect your feedback.