Can you provide prospective applicants with an overview of the recruitment process at McDonough? When does it start? How does it unfold?
CM: In short, students must be prepared for the possibility that the recruitment timeline for internships or full-time positions could happen more or less quickly than they anticipate. This could happen for many reasons – employers changing timelines or hiring initiatives, or a student changing their mind about what they want to do as they navigate their career clarification and discernment process. The MBA Career Center works closely with incoming students prior to the start of their first year to develop an internship search strategy, to prepare and tailor resumes, and to practice formulating their “tell me about yourself” pitch. There are multiple industry specific preparation sessions led by the MBA Career Center to educate students on industry-specific timelines, followed by experiential practice sessions to help students continue to develop their story and materials for the internship search.
For some Full-time MBA students, the preparation for recruitment for a summer internship could begin before they start their first class if they are targeting an industry that has early deadlines like consulting, finance, and technology. This means a student must have clarified what industry they are targeting, prepared their documents, and perfected their “tell me about yourself” story.
Students from underrepresented backgrounds have access to several summer events through organizations such as Consortium or Forte prior to entering the program that help jumpstart the internship recruitment timeline.
Each fall, employers join us to recruit beginning in early September. Companies recruiting on Georgetown McDonough’s campus come from a variety of industries, including finance, consulting, technology, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, marketing, government, social impact, and real estate. Employers generally prioritize full time hiring first, with internship recruitment happening later in the fall or winter, but it varies by industry and company. This is exactly why the career center team front loads a lot of the education during the summer prior to arrival and in early fall to set the students up for success as they move through the exploration, clarification, and execution phases of their own personal career journey.
The MBA Career Center offers both behavioral and case interview practice support using expert resources for casing and individualized coaching for both forms of interviewing. Students have the ability to meet one-on-one with career center coaches who have come from industry themselves and who are familiar with industry and company trends to guide them through the journey of both preparing for the interview and negotiating their offer(s). Many students receive multiple offers and work with the career coaches to negotiate and discern between opportunities as they go through the decision-making process. At the end of the day, our coaches are there to celebrate our students’ successes and encourage them to return to the Hilltop to hire future Hoyas.
Are there any upcoming employment trends or resources that you would like to highlight?
CM: We have new companies reaching out to engage every month – the depth and breadth of employers across all industries engaging with students is an impressive list which includes local, multinational, and international companies and organizations. Given the global reach of Georgetown McDonough, including a robust curriculum steeped in global perspectives, an expansive alumni and employment network, and the impressive backgrounds of our globally-minded and experienced students, there is no shortage of opportunities around the world. This past summer we had students interning in 11 different countries and recent graduates went on to work in Asia, Europe, and both North and South America.
There are more opportunities at large, top name companies in healthcare and marketing industries than one might expect. From management consulting to venture capital to technology to consumer goods, there is a diverse selection of companies and tremendous alumni working in these areas to connect with.
If you are interested in social impact, finance, entrepreneurship or real estate, McDonough has robust centers, including Business for Impact, the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy, Georgetown Entrepreneurship, and the Steers Center for Global Real Estate, that offer comprehensive support to launch one’s own start-up or connect with leading practitioners across a broad range of industries.
Read on for job search advice for MBA applicants and how McDonough is competitive in popular fields.
