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Question

As a young applicant myself, I wonder how the job search is going for those applicants that are younger than 'normal'. The way I see it, I wouldn't be at any more of a disadvantage than a career switcher, but I think it would be helpful to hear from some people who are actually in school (or have classmates) in this situation.

I have spoken to a couple of students at the schools I applied to, but it's been hard to track down some good information. I think this slightly anonymous way might be better.

If it helps, I am most interested in brand marketing, and I think I want to go that route post-MBA. Information on any field would be helpful though. Thanks for looking!

rhyme · Answer

Im not in your specific shoes, but I've heard from some younger GSBers that they do find themselves at a marked disadvantage.

Irishfan · Answer

Rhyme, do you have any specific examples? I know the average age of someone entering at the GSB is ~28.

squali83 · Answer

24 years old, have an internship with PepsiCo (brand management) for the summer. Age didn't hinder my search at all. However, I had an unusual amount of W/E for my age. I really don't see it as a disadvantage. It may make it tougher to get the respect of recruiters, but if you can get them to take you seriously, then your age maybe an advantage (ie, look I've accomplished all this in less years than the it took my classmates, shows drive and good work ethic).

squali83 · Answer

iamjoe,

Just to add another case, I ran into one of my fellow classmates in the gym today and internship hunting came up as a topic. He is a 21/22 year old fresh out of Ugrad (impressive GPA/GMAT) but clearly lacks experience. Currently he is pursuing IB and is making quite a few closed lists (Lehman, GS, Merrill...). However, he has run into more than one situation where one of these firms bring up the fact that they might want to start him as an analyst and allow him to work his way to an associate in a year or two due to his lack of W/E. So, age is not necessarily the issue rather W/E or the lack of it. I think if you have solid life experiences at minimum you should be able to spin it into good stories for recruiters and in interviews.

iamjoesargent · Answer

^^ Both of the above were really helpful, thanks guys.

I hope I can flip this vast internship experience into something, lol. Hearing that others have had success is calming though.

https://regularblackguy.blogspot.com

rhyme · Answer

Personally, I wouldn't recommend B-school until you have at least 3 years experience. Thats just my personal take...

iamjoesargent · Answer

I hear you...and I've heard that before but I'd appreciate it if you could explain your statement further.

Not in a defensive way I'm just curious.

Just to get it out there, I consider myself the 'intern king' (jokingly of course). I've been in school for a while but I've done six internships during school/over the summer (4 unpaid...damn sports internships, lol). I've done projects, worked full time, had and reached goals. I guess my point is that blanket statements like that just bug me. Or maybe I'm just stubborn.

Anyway, I'm curious about your opinion.

aaudetat · Answer

I think that the experience thing largely has to do with being able to draw on your experiences in the work world to add to the class environment. I see two major benefits:

1. B-school is all about DOING stuff. It's not an intellectual exercise. If you've got no experience, then the coursework will simply be less relevant. I can't tell you the number of times I've sat in the classroom and had the concepts made clear by comparing them to something that I did or that I saw back on the job. Almost nothing from college ever relates.

2. B-school is also about learning from your classmates -- professors often ask if anyone has had experience in Y industry with X issue. If you don't have experience, you don't have much to bring to the table.

Obviously, these are generalizations. Your internships may give you this type of experience. And it's not like we all come to school with the perfect package - we're all missing something. But these two issues seem pretty key to me.

iamjoesargent · Answer

Well taken, but how do finance guys apply marketing concepts, or vise versa? Is that an issue for people in school?

I am basically anticipating 'selling myself' like a career changer would.

aaudetat · Answer

Someone else should answer that one. In my last job, I did HR, mktg, ops, quality, strategy, partnerships, all kinds of things. But I would guess that even if you worked in i-banking, you had to deal with the HR or marketing or ops policies. Nothing's in a bubble.

skaballet · Answer

You should really try to talk to someone in brand management to get their take on this. I don't know brand management, but in general (esp in IB and consulting) you won't be hired at the same level as your classmates with experience and sometimes getting hired this way is not a smart idea. I've heard from my banking friends that they'll occassionally hire an unexperienced MBA as a second year analyst. But, then you'll be making half of what other MBA's are and you're expected to be on a level with analysts who have already been doing this job for a year (bottom line: you'll be at the bottom of the class). I guess I just don't see the value is doing this. It'd be a much better idea to wait a few years and try for an associate position.

Also be aware that no full-time MBA program I know of will allow you to count internship experience as full-time work experience.

Also be aware that no full-time MBA program I know of will allow you to count internship experience as full-time work experience.

iamjoesargent · Answer

Yeah I know...and thankfully I've been fortunate enough to be accepted to Cornell already. I am looking ahead to the actual job now. I will definitely try and track down some brand management students in my similar situation. I was hoping I'd find some on here.

I use the internship thing to show that we 'young people' have things to add too, lol. I started this post to see if younger applicants are given a fair shake, and it seems as though that depends on the industry. I would think that if business schools are trending toward younger applicants (albeit slowly) then companies would follow suit.

pelihu · Answer

Actually, this I haven't heard before. Banks recruiting in the US generally do not hire MBAs on as analysts. Certainly, it could be more difficult for candidates with less experience to land a banking job, but everyone is generally hired in at the same level (associate).

I know this is true at any of the elite or ultra-elite schools; I don't know if policies are different at other schools. I do know that at some international schools (seem to hear a lot about those in India) banks will hire MBAs on as analysts instead of as associates. But if you're at Cornell and land a job with an IB, you'll be hired on as an associate; the real challenge is convincing a bank to hire you rather than one of your more experienced classmates.

skaballet · Answer

Could be true I guess, just not what the people I know who are working on wall street say their firms do.

lxa · Answer

I dont think age is an issue, as long as your background and skills fit the firm's needs. I am 2006 college grad, and I was able to secure offers from MBB for summer consulting.

lepium · Answer

My experience on the subject (just by talking to younger classmates or to recruiters) is the following:

- Some general management programs required applicants to have about 4 - 8 (or 5-7) years of relevant work experience at a particular group of functions or industries. If you want those jobs, you'll have a tough time selling yourself.

- Consulting companies won't necessarily care that much, as long as you nail the cases.

- Recruiters for finance jobs would like you to have some pre-school experience (preferably finance or consulting). Unless recruiting is for IB specifically, in which case I don't think experience would matter as long as you show maturity and achievements.

L.

isa · Answer

Out of curiosity, are you ever asked to disclose your age during the recruiting process? Or do most recruiters estimate your age based on year of graduation, amount of work, etc?

Asking because I'm quite a bit younger than my colleagues (by about two years) and am wondering if it will ever come out during the recruiting process...

thanks,
ac.

aaudetat · Answer

it's illegal to ask about age in a job setting - ditto family status, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, etc.

but i am quite sure they do the basic math from your graduation year. it's not foolproof, but generally a good estimator.

togafoot · Answer

In the US that is...

In Japan, they can ask for all the above info and a photo for your application.

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