Event eases woes of job recruitment
By Roberta Wolfson
Oct. 10, 2008 1:28 a.m.
This is an important time for many seniors. With only a year left until graduation, soon-to-be graduates are facing the prospect of securing their next step for the future.
But it will not be an easy task for those hoping to break into competitive industries. In today’s rocky economy, job prospects are looking slimmer than usual, which makes the traditionally daunting process of job recruiting even more intimidating.
“I feel bad for the competition that’s backed up against the kids coming out of school now,” said Michael Fishman, a business analyst for Deloitte Consulting and a 2007 UCLA graduate.
In order to boost his chances of securing a consulting position, fourth-year business economics student Greg Coussa attended the Bruin Consulting Expo on Monday.
Run by Bruin Consulting, this meet-and-greet event gave students the opportunity to speak with representatives from 17 different consulting firms hoping to recruit UCLA students.
“We wanted to give firms an opportunity to seek out talented individuals at UCLA and also give students an opportunity to talk to firms,” said Justin Wang, a fourth-year psychobiology student and president of Bruin Consulting.
Wang said the event was successful, attracting roughly 300 undergraduates and about 70 top-firm representatives. These numbers indicate an increase from last year, when the same fall event attracted roughly 200 students and only 12 firms, Wang said.
Wang attributed this increase in student interest partly to the recent crisis with the banking industry.
“People say that the two types of industry to get the most out of your (business-related) bachelor’s degree is either investment banking or consulting,” Wang said. “With the turmoil in banking right now, a lot of people are considering the second option.”
Coussa is one such student who made the switch from banking to consulting.
“I was looking at banking, but given the current economy and stock market crisis and the banking industries going downhill, I decided that that wasn’t for me,” Coussa said.
Breaking into the consulting industry has always been difficult, but in the current economic climate it may be even more challenging, said Elizabeth Han, a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting and a 2008 UCLA graduate.
“Consulting is a highly sought-after career choice. It’s very competitive in terms of recruiting and getting top candidates,” Han said. “Given what’s been happening in the market, we do expect an increase in the number of applicants.”
Coussa said he knows several other people who have also considered switching to consulting due to the current banking crisis, and this has led to increased competition for entry-level positions in the consulting industry.
Although more and more students once interested in banking are now considering the consulting industry, firms are still remaining as competitive as before, Fishman said.
“We will take as many qualified people as we feel are out there, but I don’t believe any specific effort has been made to accommodate the increased influx of people,” Fishman said.
But the current economic crisis is not only affecting the finance sector. Coussa said he believes the unstable economy may hurt the consulting industry as well.
“I read that in the next couple of years, consulting firms are going to feel the hit of the current economic crisis,” he said. “Banks and other firms in general are going down, and they’re not going to be able to afford consultants. They may have predetermined contracts that are keeping consulting firms in business, but in the next few years as these contracts expire, who’s to say that they will be renewed?”
Ryan Richards, a consultant at Hitachi Consulting and a 2007 UCLA graduate, said that because consultants are seen as temporary hires, the chances are high that consultants may be cut first in times of trouble.
“Economic times are hard on everybody in business, so if the economy does take a strong dip, I believe that will be hard for the consulting industry as well,” Richards said. “Going into an organization, we’re not employees, we’re temps, so if they’re going to cut costs, they are going to cut us first.”
For many students faced with the prospect of finding a secure job in a seemingly unstable job market, attending events such as the Bruin Consulting Expo may be one of the ways to gain some certainty.
“It was very helpful,” Coussa said. “It was a good opportunity to try to get a day-to-day understanding of what they do and what it’s like coming out of college.”
Richards said the expo and other such recruiting events are helpful not only for potential candidates, but also for the recruiters because “these events help us put faces to names on the resume.”
In a job market so fraught with uncertainty, many students are demonstrating a desire to keep their options open.
“Speaking with the students, I saw that many are exploring other options and keeping themselves open,” Han said.
Tristan Schulhof, a fourth-year political science student who attended the event, said he was interested in learning about management consulting but wanted to keep an open mindset throughout the whole process.
“I’ve heard about consulting and know it’s something I want to learn more about,” Schulhof said. “But I don’t know if this is something I ultimately want a career in or if I will even take a job in consulting. I might do it for a couple years and then go back to grad school. I’ll just see if I get offers and then go from there.”
