Despite a tougher job market, 75 per cent of MBAs at The George Washington School of Business secured jobs within 90 days of graduating this year. Last year the “job conversion rate” was 13 points higher.

Gil Yancey, executive director of GWSB's F. David Fowler Career Center, talks about the challenges he faces and his advice to students looking to start their dream career in the midst of a severe economic downturn.

Challenges

The main challenge has been embedding career management in the mindset of students and in the culture and curriculum of the school. Students are at GWSB to enhance their careers so the challenge for the career services office is to focus students on career management as early and as often as possible during their tenure at the school.

For our undergrads, career management starts in their freshman year. With MBAs, we start the process in early summer, well before they arrive for orientation. Once they arrive they get involved in concentrated career-management activities to become market-ready promptly.

Students have welcomed our strategies as reflected by use of our services, which is up 85 per cent on two years ago. Students’ satisfaction rate is up to 4.58 on a five-point scale.

Previous experience

My corporate experience positions me to share with students the employers' mind-set when they are looking for talent. Employers intend to identify the best talent to satisfy their organizations’ needs. They really don’t care that you need a job, that you’ve worked hard in school or that you need to start recouping your investment. Their focus is very simply: “Why should I hire you?

Employers are concerned with how the students’ education, experiences, and preparation will help them achieve their business objectives. Our career services office prepares students to develop their value proposition in the context of employers’ interests.

Strength of GWSB students

First of all, rigorous classroom learning that focuses on teamwork, critical thinking and ethical judgment enhances their business maturity.

Secondly, they’ve honed their skills through practical work experience before leaving school. MBA students have an average of four years of work experience before joining the program and enhance that experience with relevant internships during the program.

Thirdly, GWSB students don’t just learn global awareness; they live it! All of our first-year MBAs participate in an International Residency where they work with executives in a foreign country to resolve a business challenge.

Having worked on the case for several weeks in collaboration with the executives and faculty, the students go to the foreign country for two weeks to present their proposed solutions. Of course they also experience local business culture and society first-hand.

The fourth strength is our location. By being positioned in the heart of Washington DC, our students get unparalleled exposure to thought leaders in business, public policy, and international affairs.

Advice to graduates on job searching

• Broaden your career perspectives.
• Think career management, not just job search.
• Don't just seek a job title or position, but open up the variety of options open to an individual who possesses the competencies, values and experiences you have to offer.
• Don’t fixate on a single option but have a primary, secondary and tertiary plan and be prepared to start with plan “B”, if necessary, and then navigate your way back to plan “A” when the economy and job market permit.
• Networking is the number one job-search technique. The more senior the position you’re seeking, the more important networking will become. Practice and hone this skill, you’ll need it all your life.

Advice on networking

• No matter how large or small it may be, everyone has a network. Start where you are to expand that network.
• Start with friends and family members and be prepared to share your value proposition.
• Help people in your network understand how they might assist. The best time to build a network is when you don’t need it.
• Networking is a two-way street: it is both giving and receiving and you want to start the giving process well before you need to receive. Believe me; it is far easier to ask for assistance after you have provided assistance.

Prior to joining The GW School of Business, Gil was senior vice president and managing director of the Washington and Baltimore area offices of talent solutions firm Lee Hecht Harrison LLC. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Kidney Foundation for twelve years, and chaired a committee for the Greater Washington Board of Trade focused on easing the transition for exiting government workers. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Washington DC Children’s Trust Fund.