Anderson School’s Class of 2002 is finding corporate jobs harder to come by

Holly Han didn’t need to show up for class at UCLA’s Anderson School this fall to know that this year’s recruiting situation would be tougher than in years past. The second year MBA student, who is looking to get a consulting position upon graduation next June, already had gotten the picture by hearing from 2001 graduates.

“During the summer, I started to hear all of my (2001 graduating) friends having their offers pushed back. Some got pushed back twice, some got rescinded,” said Han. “You pretty much get a clue.”

It’s not getting any better for the Class of 2002.

Late October is usually a busy time for the business school, as recruiters from Fortune 500 companies interview second years in advance of May graduation. This year, however, economic conditions have caused a number of companies to either cut back interview schedules or cancel them altogether, concerning career counselors and students alike.

For Han and her classmates, that means fewer jobs.

“(Consulting firms) are not even sure they can hire all of their summer interns,” she said. “Usually, after summer, you get an offer, but now most of (my classmates) don’t have offers yet.

“I’m interviewing with countries abroad Korea and China,” said Han, who is fluent in Chinese. “I would have considered it before, but not as strongly.”

Not only are the jobs not there, neither are the recruiters at least in the numbers that have flocked to the campus in years past.

“We have experienced an overall decline in on-campus recruiting,” said Alysa Polkes, director of the school’s Parker Career Management Center. “Some firms are saying it’s really fiscally challenging to muster the resources to come to campus.”

While Polkes said it was too early to quantify the decline in second-year interviews from last year, mainstays like Clorox Co., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Procter & Gamble have eliminated second year interviews at Anderson this fall.

The biggest effect on the recruiting decline involves firms in the consulting, finance and investment banking sectors. Larger banking and consulting firms usually run four or five full-day schedules for second years during the fall, with each schedule accommodating 13 students. As a result, half of the 2001 graduating class went into investment banking or consulting.

Now, many of these firms have cut their scheduling commitments in half. “In the past, PCS (private client services) might have done two schedules now they’re doing one.”

While consulting firm Cap Gemini Ernst & Young continues to conduct information sessions and sponsor social events on campus, it canceled its interviews for second years, for which they had between 30 and 60 spots each fall over the past few years.

“For somebody to (conduct interviews) when the reality is that they don’t have any opportunities we don’t want to do that,” said Doug Fauth, assistant national director for university relations at Cap Gemini.

The reduction has extended to the brand management sector, in which firms like P & G; and Clorox had maintained a prominent presence on campus in the form of brown bag lunches, dinner sponsorships and extensive interviews.

“We’ve canceled all of our efforts for second years, though that might change for spring,” said Christie Cobo, college relations specialist at Clorox.

The exceptions either have been specialty consulting firms or companies undergoing an expansion phase, like ECG Management Consultants and General Mills, which has a merger pending with Pillsbury Co.

“Everyone’s a little frustrated,” student Eleanor Fraser said of the work students have put into contacting companies. “People are saying, ‘What’s the point of going through all the trouble?'”

But just because fall interviews are down doesn’t mean the class of 2002 should write off their future job opportunities. Fauth noted that until about eight years ago, much of the recruiting efforts for graduating business students were conducted in the spring, a practice he sees firms returning to in economically uncertain times.

“I think you’re going to see more of just-in-time recruiting at companies,” said Fauth.