Dan Richards is a serial founder and former public company CEO, and an award-winning member of the marketing faculty at the Rotman School of Management, where he oversees the credit course associated with MBA student internships.
Even at the best of times, it can be tough to find the right first job. In uncertain times like today when many companies have put hiring on hold, that quest can be even more challenging. Here’s the good news: Since I began teaching business school students, graduates found roles during job markets that were just as challenging than today – and sometimes even worse. The early 1980s and 1990s saw deep multiyear recessions. The aftermath of the 2001 tech wreck lingered for years. During the 2008 – 2009 financial crisis, credible economists talked about the possibility of a global depression. And of course the pandemic in the spring of 2020 led to an almost total freeze on hiring plans.
After ‘labour shortages’ the new go-to word on corporate calls is ‘layoffs’
Here are four lessons from students who beat the odds in past downturns and found good jobs after graduation. Note that while these lessons come from MBA students, they apply to everyone looking for their first job out of school.
1. Treat your job search like a job
In 2000, a business school graduate who had secured an offer got a call that all new hiring was on hold and that the offer was being withdrawn. After initial disappointment, he approached the company where he’d worked the prior summer about getting an office to work from. Every day he put on a suit and when he arrived at the office, he got to work. He laid out key priorities for the day ahead, focusing on applying for jobs, LinkedIn searches and other activity to position him for success. By treating his job search like a job, in short order his calendar was filled with calls and coffees with potential employers and 90 days later he had an offer with a top consulting firm.
2. Pursue opportunities in parallel
Here’s a common scenario: In 2020, one of my students got a first interview. For the next week she focused on preparing for that interview, learning everything she could about the company and the role. The interview went well and she was invited for a second interview a week later. More preparation. She got through the second round and was invited for the final interview. More prep still. The final interview went well … then silence. She followed up and 10 days later learned that the job was put on hold. Meanwhile, she lost four weeks in her job search.
Successful candidates understand the law of large numbers – the more irons in the fire, the more likely you are to be successful. As a result, rather than pursuing jobs sequentially as this student did, they pursue a number of jobs in parallel. You still put effort into interview prep, but you don’t do that to the exclusion of exploring other opportunities.
3. Build an informal network
We’ve all read the statistics on the number of jobs that are filled through word-of-mouth. One common mistake for job seekers is failing to follow up with contacts when an initial opportunity doesn’t materialize. I’ve had employers tell me that they hired someone who was politely persistent – even if the first job didn’t pan out, candidates were in regular contact to stay top of mind for other opportunities.
This can play out in other ways as well. In the fall of 2009, a Rotman graduate had been searching for a job for a few months without success. In reviewing his spreadsheet of contacts, he identified a Rotman alum with a tech firm who graduated two years earlier and with whom he’d had a conversation six months earlier. He reached out for a follow-up coffee and a week later got an e-mail suggesting that he apply for a position that had just been posted and asking for a copy of his resume. The grad at the company walked the resume over to the hiring manager with a recommendation that this student be considered. The student got an interview and three weeks later had an offer.
4. Maintain motivation
Looking for your first job can be lonely and discouraging. It can also be an emotional roller coaster – the highs very high and the lows very low. Knowing that upfront will help you stay motivated when that happens. Staying motivated also requires strategies to fuel your energy. The right diet, sleep routine, exercise, meditation, journaling and connecting with friends can all contribute to maintaining a positive outlook. Something else that can help are regular meetings with classmates who are also in job-search mode. In the spring of 2009, I helped organize weekly meetings of Rotman students who were looking for jobs. At each meeting six to eight students talked about progress in the past week and goals for the week ahead, received feedback and gave and received support. Afterward, students reported these meetings were instrumental in staying motivated and landing jobs.
Some students I’ve talked to recently said it feels like it’s never been harder to land a job. In truth, we’ve seen worse periods before and we’ll see worse in the future. The key to getting through today’s challenge is to keep a positive outlook and learn from what worked in the past. While it may take some time, do that and the job that launches your career will follow.