Graduating in challenging times — tips from the 2009 class
By Anne-Sophie Martin and Teresa Chen
Around Town Square and corners of the GSB, one question looms in the air among graduating students. “Do you know where you’ll be?”, we ask with some hesitation, engaged in a delicate dance of politeness. A celebratory, or perhaps, commiserating, high-five follows if both parties find themselves without a job or a start date yet.
For so many of us, we search for that perfect role that we spent the last two years defining and crafting. This trough of disillusionment that is the job search process can feel overwhelming and isolating, and we write this piece with the intention of normalizing wherever you are in this process. For those of you who need to hear it, you’re not alone.
Since January, Alphabet and Amazon have laid off 12,000 and 27,000 employees. Countless other tech companies hit the brakes on hiring, sending the number of job openings in the US to a two-year low in March. It’s not just employment stats. The precarious balance sheets of regional banks — Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, First Republic Bank — are sounding off alarm bells reminiscent of the 2008 crisis. The seismic shift in the macroeconomic climate is keeping many of us, particularly those of us who are graduating in June, on the edge of our seats.
As Class of 2023, we may have thought that we dodged the pandemic years, but our ambitions are confronting the realities of the current economy. Some classmates lament giving up less trodden paths for the comforts of consulting and finance. Even the Career Management Center has noticed a shift from previous years — fewer jobs, fiercer competition, and a slower rate of placement for GSB students.
Here at non-disclosure, we interviewed a GSB Class of 2009 alum who generously shared with us a few tips on navigating job search in challenging times.
Tip #1: Embrace the difficulties
Like us, the alum graduated from the GSB during a time when companies slammed their doors shut on hiring. To secure a job in 2009, especially in finance, she not only had to search for existing opportunities but also create new ones. She tirelessly attended conferences, forged meaningful connections with professors, and mastered the art of crafting persuasive cold emails. While these are all good practices in normal times, they become especially important in times like today.
Many GSB students struggled to find employment that year. In 2009, the Career Management Center reported that only 90% of GSB students seeking employment had a job offer by three months post-graduation, an important decrease compared to the 98% and 97% numbers reported in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
Tip #2: Know your priorities (and what you’re willing to compromise)
Plant your feet firmly with your eyes on your priorities in the job search process. If you’re anything like us, you might find yourself embarking on a whirlwind of job applications, frantically submitting resumes into the black holes known as job portals, and somehow, blissfully ignoring the fact that deep down I know that some of these positions are not meant for me. Define your focus — industry, location, company size, role — and let others know how to help you.
The GSB alum chose the path of finance over her dream of residing on the West Coast. Knowing what you’re willing to compromise can be even more important than knowing what you’re looking for.
Tip #3: Never a good idea to think about people left and right of us. It’s (almost) never the right decision for you.
Formation of New Ventures teaches us that celebrating the next round of capital raised is like celebrating your student loans. It’s not about how much money you’ve taken out both for school and your start-up, but instead, what you do with the opportunity ahead of you. In the swirl of the job search, it may be tempting to compare ourselves to our peers (and, in turn, forget to celebrate their successes). The GSB alum encouraged us to not think about people left and right of us. We each run our own race. Your facilitator from Interpersonal Dynamics would invite you to consider “what is the right decision for you”.
Tip #4: Define success more broadly
We challenge you to define success more broadly in searching for your next role and imagine yourself at our 10-year reunion. At the GSB, we embrace the amorphous job process. Some may even see this as a sign of taking healthy risks. Getting a prestigious job is one version of success. There can be many more, so what’s yours?
Tip #5: It doesn’t have to look linear
We recognize that the reassurances from past classes may not feel all that reassuring. Your feelings of panic are real. What we wish for you is that you’ll embrace the surprises that may come your way — even if the path to get there may not look as linear as you anticipated.
The experience of the GSB alum and the 2009 class reminds us that our careers are just getting started: they will take unexpected turns, challenge us, fulfill us in ways we cannot yet anticipate, and evolve in exciting ways. “Do you know where you’ll be?” is not only a question that we ask ourselves today as we approach graduation but one that we will continue asking ourselves, tomorrow and in the years to come, as we embark on our respective journeys.
