Dozens of MIT Sloan School of Management MBA students will test the job market waters this week when they visit some of the nation’s top companies on their annual job-hunting, network-building “Tech Treks.”
This year’s treks will include stops in Seattle and San Francisco to visit tech titans such as Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google, as well as Los Angeles and Las Vegas to visit media and entertainment companies such as Sony, Warner Brothers and MGM — the company that wants to build a resort casino in Springfield.
“It’s one thing when they come to campus and talk in the abstract about the kind of company they are; it’s quite another to be able to go to their headquarters and see how everyone interacts,” Zachary Freeman, 27, of Swampscott said. “You get a much more up-close and intimate understanding of those companies, which will help us get a better idea of what we want to do in that space.”
Freeman, one of three students who organized the trips to Seattle and San Francisco, said it’s a testament to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s brand and alumni base that they were able to set up meetings with executives at so many top-tier companies.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll be able to find a job that gets me started on the road toward being able to design my own product, something that’s based on a community,” he said. “Mobile web applications are allowing communities to be formed in ways that weren’t possible previously. But it’s pretty clear there’s still a lot of unemployment. So just because I’m in a particular program like MBA, or just because I’m interested in technology, it seems naive to assume I’ll be able to find a job. I don’t expect it to be handed to me. I have to earn it.”
Unlike Freeman, Michael DiBenigno, 26, of Atlanta hopes to have his own startup or work for one in the entertainment or media industry after he graduates next year.
A startup’s chance of success today might be better than it was at the height of the recession, he said, “but it might be harder to attract talent if that talent is being recruited by larger, more established organizations.”
That’s good news for other MBAs such as Jarek Langer who aren’t looking to start their own companies straight out of school.
“The opportunities are out there,” Langer, 29, said. “Companies are recruiting heavily. They’re looking for people to have this kind of MBA and the knowledge that comes with that.”
Boston Herald