MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 2457
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: Unemployment During a Recession
[#permalink]
24 Jan 2009, 18:11
Here's another way schools fudge the numbers.
The "employed" number will usually include those who have offers, but who have been deferred (lots of consulting firms did that where they would "defer" you for 6 months, then when 6 months is up, "defer" you for another 6 months so that it's not real job offer). Moreover, it doesn't account for the fact that a good chunk would get laid off within 1 year of joining. It wasn't uncommon to have a dept/group give you an offer, only for that group to dissolve by the time you were supposed to start.
The job market between 2001-04 saw a LOT of turnover -- for those of you who worked then I don't have to tell you that. People switching jobs as much as a few times a year.
It was a pretty stressful time for a lot of my peers back then. People who were unemployed for more than 18 months; others who were laid off multiple times.
Take the employment numbers published by schools with a HUGE grain of salt -- remember that these *marketing* and *promotional* documents, not audited statements. To be honest, the numbers really don't tell the real story.
The flipside of that "unemployed" number is that there are folks who are picky and unwilling to compromise for any job and could afford to stay unemployed in order to find the *right* job. For example, I had a classmate who was really wanted to work in a specific area of sports mgmt - and stuck it out for around 18 months until the right job was found - and that effort paid off. Or the folks who wanted to do private equity or VC or something else that doesn't involve traditional recruiting - and who needed extra time beyond graduation to find it. So that "% unemployed" doesn't really tell you a whole lot, because some are willingly unemployed (looking for the right opportunity), and some are unwillingly employed (those who were looking for traditional MBA jobs and couldn't get it). Also, as agold said, a good number of the "employed" may not be "happily employed at a job they really wanted".
While it's admirable to analyze the numbers, if the data isn't reliable or consistent it's not really going to yield the insight you were hoping for.
In short, if you're adamant about needing a job right after graduation, you should be able to land a job offer during school so long as you're willing to be very open-minded and realistic about what you can get. The pickier you are, the harder it will be. As to how picky you want to be, that's a personal decision.