Finding A Job: Self-Sponsored
At the end of SDM you will probably want a job. Finding a job is a long term effort and I’m afraid the SDM program is not as supportive as it might be. You therefore have to start early and work hard at it and take nothing for granted. Networking is very important: schmooze.
Prepare and Use A CV
Write the draft of your CV before you even get to MIT as that way you can check the details out. The first CV you will write is the SDM picture book – this is all some potential employers will ever see of you so think carefully about how to sell yourself, what email and phone numbers to use, etc. Write a two or three page full version of your CV in April. Theoretically the main campus CDO (Careers Development Office) give advice on writing CVs but in practice they are not used to people with the experience level of SDM – however when you have this copy arrange to see them for their opinion. Whenever you attend a company information session or interview take at least one copy of each format of your CV with you. You would not believe how many opportunities you will miss if you do not, or how disorganized companies can be. Tailor these copies to suit each company.
Career Development Office – Main Campus
This office supports all 12,000 students at MIT. They are spread very thin and it shows. Our experience is that they are of little use to SDM students but go and check them out and form your own opinion. Most employers who schedule interviews or advertise posts via the main campus CDO are looking for 21 year old entry level graduates or post-PhD narrow discipline specialists: we are neither and so the CDO don’t know how to support us, nor do they have the resources to do so.
Career Development Office – Sloan (MBA)
This office advertises itself to the outside world as the Sloan CDO but in truth restricts its charter to being the Sloan MBA CDO and refuses to serve SDM, MoT, and Sloan PhDs. As a result you cannot ‘sign up’ (on the Sloanspace web) for interviews with recruiting companies nor can you sign up for reserved seating in the company briefing sessions, nor do you get access to all the information about vacancies etc. The only way to manage this situation is to physically walk down to the second floor of Tang-E51 twice a week and monitor the notice boards for posters about information sessions. Then make a note of the time and location (they are typically lunchtime, sometimes evening) and queue up outside.
Once the reserved seats (and lunches) have filled you can file in and listen to the spiel if there is space left. At the end of the information session speak with the recruiter and get their email – explain that you are doing an MSc in Mge & Eng and follow up with an email request for interview. In the email title mention “follow up to your presentation at Sloan” as most such requests get binned if they are not from closed presentation sessions and/or top schools. The interviewer may then sometimes ask for you to arrange a slot with the Sloan CDO in which case you have to get it in writing (email, not telephone) as otherwise the Sloan CDO will not cooperate. Sometimes you may be able to email an interview request to a company email address posted on the physical poster board but these are seldom disclosed hence the need for this messing around.
Be careful about how you represent yourself. On the one hand you need to appear enough like an MBA that you get the interview, but on the other hand you won’t always want the same sort of job or grade that an MBA wants. Nor do you want to foul up the reputation of SDM by trying to pass yourself off as an MBA (as we are not and chose not to be) as this will have repercussions for everyone. Tread delicately. Apologies if this sounds like a terrible cold war system but you need to understand the reality of life.
Career Fairs
There are many career fairs on campus, but two main ones: one in November (for all MIT, only for US jobs) and one at the end of January (for MIT and Harvard, only for European jobs). During the January program try to pop in to the European career fair and see how it is organized as it gives you an idea for next year and for the November one. SDM students are seldom the targeted hiring population at these career fairs but if you don’t try you will never find out. In lean years most companies simply attend with no intention of hiring, and use it as an advertising opportunity.
There is an NMRF career fair in November and SDM are invited. Most partner companies will prefer to speak to you during the SDM on-campus recruiting round and you will have to judge for yourself whether the other companies are worth you investing in a plane ticket and three days time.
There are various MBA career fairs around the US that you may wish to consider. Similarly there are some in Europe. It is difficult to find out about these because the Sloan CDO doesn't cooperate, and in any case most US companies of note attend Sloan in any case. You might want to consider the European one which takes place in December.
Non-US Citizens
If you are a non-US citizen then you need to know whether you have permanent residency status. Without permanent residency status you will normally not be invited to interview in the US – even by supposedly global companies. The only way to get around this is to contact the company office in your home country and ask that the US recruiters conduct the initial round of interviews with a view to being hired by your home country office: you never know they might like you enough to decide to sponsor a visa application for you in the US after all (if you want to work in the US that is).
If you are non-US then many defense and/or aerospace companies will not interview you as they are worried that you might not get security clearance. These hurdles tend to get raised more in lean years than at other times – it’s not a level playing field and you need to be realistic as early as possible.
Job Data Bases - Monster.com etc
In about June get registered on Monster.com both as yourself, and as an MIT student (i.e. two separate registrations). In order to register as an MIT student you need to follow the procedure outlined in the Main Campus CDO hand out (about the only thing they are useful for).
It takes a long time to load up your CV into the various job databases so start in the mid-year. If you put “Systems Design & Management” too prominently you will be ignored by any recruiter except those with IT jobs so try to present a balanced profile. These databases are trawled routinely by non-Monster agencies who will contact you separately (to avoid paying Monster a fee) so get your CV(s) on display early.
Find out what the job databases are in your normal field, e.g., a good one for energy sector jobs is www.worldwideworker.com . Post your CV early and keep an eye on the market – you may get approached by an agency and may be able to negotiate something: remember you can always become an off-campus student.
Change Your Graduation Date
Many SDM self-sponsored students will be considering the 13 month option. This means you graduate in January. Unless the economy is booming there are no job vacancies in January and certainly no companies looking for college graduates in January. Consider doing an RA or TA and stretching the SDM program out over two more semesters (more cheaply) and thereby get yourselves in sync with the rest of the world.
Finding A Job: Company-Sponsored
Jobs are just as important a subject for company-sponsored student. Make sure your expectations are in-line with your company BEFORE you begin the program, and work hard to maintain this alignment so as to avoid surprises on either side.
ReEntry: Your Family
Think about it. You've been on the assignment & thesis & class treadmill for a few years and all of a sudden you wake up and realize your family has aged. Don’t assume anything and discuss in advance how to manage things in a gradual manner.
ReEntry: Alumni Association
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes by the alumni to manage the SDM program itself and to keep the ‘lifelong learning’ scene ticking over and spinning up. Increasingly the LFM and SDM alumni associations are working together to create and exploit synergies, and there is also the opportunity to do the same with the Sloan alumni association (of which you are a member as an SDM graduate). Consider participating and contributing.