Hiring the Best and the Brightest: A Roadmap To MBA Recruiting

300 Pages·2001·2.4 MB·English

by  Sherrie Gong Taguchi

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Hiring the Best and
the Brightest
Hiring the Best and
the Brightest
A Roadmap to MBA Recruiting
Sherrie Gong Taguchi
AMACOM
American Management Association
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expertassistanceisrequired,theservicesofacompetentprofessional
personshouldbesought.
ThisisdedicatedtothehundredsofhiringmanagerswhoweremycustomerswhenIwasVP
ofUniversityRecruitingatBankofAmericaandDirectorofCorporateHRforDole
PackagedFoodsandMervyn’sDepartmentStores.Also,adebtofgratitudetothe1400(cid:1)
executiveswithwhomIhaveworkedinthediversityofcompaniesthatannuallyrecruitour
StanfordMBAs.Youallareanamazingsourceofinspiration.Cheers!
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Taguchi,SherrieGong,1961–
Hiringthebestandthebrightest:aroadmaptoMBArecruiting/SherrieGong
Taguchi.
p. cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN0-8144-0635-1
1. Employees—Recruiting. 2. Employeeselection. I. Title.
HF5549.5.R44 T28 2002
658.3(cid:1)11—dc21
2001041231
(cid:2)2002SherrieGongTaguchi.
Allrightsreserved.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
Thispublicationmaynotbereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinwhole
orinpart,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or
otherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofAMACOM,adivisionofAmerican
ManagementAssociation,1601Broadway,NewYork,NY10019.
Printingnumber
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
Chapter 1. MBA Recruiting at a Glance 1
Chapter 2. The Four Phases of MBA
Recruiting—Real Time 11
Chapter 3. Phase One: Up-Front Preparation 21
Chapter 4. Phase Two: Best-in-Class Pre-
Recruitment 41
Chapter 5. Phase Three: Interviews 54
Chapter 6. Interviewing Lessons Learned 66
Chapter 7. Phase Four: Second Rounds and
Offers 77
Chapter 8. Structuring Compensation Offers 91
Chapter 9. Best Practices and Worst Mistakes:
A Multi-Industry Perspective 106
Chapter 10. School Profiles of the Top Twenty
Picks 119
Chapter 11. For Established Companies: Here
Today, Here Tomorrow 191
Chapter 12. For Start-Ups Only: Cracking the
Code on the People Issues 200
Chapter 13. Fast Track to Recruiting on the Fly 219
Chapter 14. Leveraging Your Web Site and
Other Internet Resources 230
vi Contents
Chapter 15. Developing and Keeping Your
Talent 241
Chapter 16. Retention Tool Kit 253
Recommended Reading and Resources 264
Appendixes 266
Index 277
About the Author 289
Preface
WHETHER WORKING WITH EXECUTIVES IN old or new com-
panies—a Fortune 500, a start-up, a venture capital firm, an investment
bankingormanagementconsultingfirm,orahightech,entertainment,con-
sumer products, or manufacturing company—one of the top challenges I
hear over and over is: How do we recruit, develop, and keep the best talent?
The refrain is the same in both boom years and down times. This challenge
isespeciallyonorganizations’radarscreensforMBAsandexperiencedtalent.
Whatever the state of the economy, whether vigorously growing or de-
cidedly slowing, the best and the brightest employees are always in strong
demand by great companies or by those aspiring to be so. It takes strategy,
imagination, and execution to recruit, develop, and keep this talent—
whether new MBA recruits or your current employees. The past few years
have seen an intensely competitive and complex market. The rules have
changed. Power has shifted from the companies to the candidates and back
to the companies. There are new players competing in what some still call a
war for talent. There are old players trying new things. The lessons that we
learned, and are still learning, are incredibly useful.
Now is an ideal time to reflect, to reinvigorate your thinking, and to
build strengths in effective recruiting, developing, and keeping the best
talent.
Whateveryourlevelofrecruitingexperienceorsuccess,Ihopethisbook
will give you the inspiration, insight, and ideas to help you on many fronts:
•
TobuildanMBArecruitingprogramfromthegroundup—fromdeter-
miningyourhiringneedstoresearchingandevaluatingschoolstocreat-
ing a winning presence on your chosen campuses
viii Preface
•
To improve significantly, or expand strategically, an existing recruiting
program
•
Togaininsightonbestpracticesacrossindustriesininterviewing,inter-
viewer training, the callback process, compensation/offers, and job de-
scriptions
•
To add to your repertoire, your ‘‘toolkit’’—as a manager of people or
as an HR professional—retention strategies, recruiting on-the-fly when
there’s no time for planning, and top employment related web sites,
among other critical knowledge and skills
•
Tobenefitfromtheadviceofadiversityoffrontlinemanagers—aCFO,
COO, VPs of HR, marketing, and engineering, among others—on
what works for them, their philosophies and approaches, and their
proven ideas
I hope to offer some valuable strategies and advice, best practices, les-
sons learned, tips, and tools whatever your organization’s size, industry,
arena (profit or nonprofit), and capabilities. This includes encouraging you
to reinvigorate some of your business fundamentals, get back to basics, as
well as to try some new ideas. Although the focus of the book’s first half is
MBArecruitment, much ofwhatisshared inthisbookhas broaderapplica-
tiontorecruitingingeneralandtoretainingordinaryorextraordinarytalent
already in your organization.
Myperspectiveisthreefold:asarecruiter,asamanagerofsmalltolarge
teams, and as an MBA/business school insider.
For many of you, I’ve walked in your shoes and am familiar with your
realities.That’swhyI hopeyourreading thisbookis more likeourhavinga
conversation,bouncingideasbackandforth,discussingstrategywithpracti-
cal applications, and being creative.
Like some of you, I started up a college/MBA recruiting program the
month before we were to launch it, while under intense time pressure, bud-
get constraints, and simultaneous with major layoffs. As a hiring manager
myself or an HR coach for other managers, I know what you go through. I
(cid:2)
too have had to deal with 170 open reqs, lots of TBHs on the org charts
from many different groups, all needing the ideal candidates yesterday.
I’vealso sharedtheexperience oftryingtokeepallthegreattalentonce
itisrecruitedin.Thishasinvolvedsouptonuts,fromdevelopingorientation
programs to succession planning and what’s in between (building morale,
Preface ix
keepingpeopleenergized,performancemanagement,careerdevelopment...).
I know it’s a lot harder than it looks, but when you do it, what a critical
result for your team and organization.
As head of Stanford’s MBA Career Management Center, I’ve worked
withourMBAs,alumni,andbusinessschoolcolleagues,bothhereandinter-
nationally. The coaching and advising have given me insights not only on
what effective companies do to achieve recruiting success but also on what
is most important to students in considering organizations and jobs, and
later as alumni, what keeps them in their companies versus becoming
tempted by that next big thing in another company or industry.
Ihopeyoutakeawaymanythingsfromthisbook;thattheideasstimu-
late you into action; that the strategies and frameworks help make you a
moreeffectiverecruiterormanager;thatthelessonslearnedareguidingfood
forthought.Mostimportant,Ihopethatwhatissaidresonatesandthatyou
come away more inspired and confident, with new tools, skills, and knowl-
edgetoachieve whatyou wantfor yourselfprofessionallyandfor yourorga-
nization.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the involvement of
literallyhundredsofpeople.Iwouldespeciallyliketothankmydeansatthe
Stanford Graduate School of Business: Bob Joss, George Parker, and Dan
Rudolph,andmyincredibleteamandcolleagues,particularlyLilianeBaxter,
Charlotte Carter, Cathy Castillo, Uta Kremer, and Becky Scott, for their
belief in me and this project.
A debt of gratitude to the thirty-eight executives who contributed their
quotes, advice, and lessons learned in the book.
The organizations represented include Goldman Sachs & Co., Mc-
Kinsey & Co., Bain & Co., Booz Allen & Hamilton, Kleiner Perkins Cau-
field & Byers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Enron North America
Corp., YuniNetworks Inc., Charles Schwab & Co., General Mills, Korn/
FerryInternational,DelMonteFoods,MarketFirst,MapleOpticalSystems,
Hewlett-Packard, The Tech Museum of Innovation, The San Mateo City
Library,CatholicCharities,idealab!,CapitalPartners,EliLilly&Company,
Seneca Capital, Marketocracy, Netergy Networks, Computer Motion,
Brecker &Merryman,theSaratogaInstitute, iQuantic,DialPadCommuni-
x Preface

cations,GEDGlobal—HongKong,theGraduateManagementAdmissions

Council, WetFeet, Global Workplace, CruelWorld, a Spencer Stuart Talent

Networkgroup,L’Ore´alUSA,Bertelsmann,ExxonMobilCorporation,and

Yahoo!

Tomynineteenbusinessschoolcareermanagementcenter directorcol-

leagues: My appreciation for sharing your in-depth knowledge about your
MBA programs and your insights on effectively recruiting your students.
To my remarkable AMACOM editors, Adrienne Hickey, Charles Lev-
ine,JimBessent,andAndyAmbraziejus:Manythanksforyourgoodhumor,
wisdom, and experienced guidance. Your late-night e-mails, valuable input
tothemanuscript,andsmoothshepherdingofthebookthroughtheprocess
made this project a reality.
To my husband, Mark: Thank you for being my most trusted adviser.
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Your loving support, patience in bouncing ideas back and forth, and IT
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expertise made all the difference in this writing endeavor. To my mom,
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Magen Gong Jensen: I am eternally grateful for your example of using what

gifts you have to help others, the couragMe you instilled in me to follow my

heart, and your boldness in leading an inspired life.
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Thank you all for playing a part in this adventure with me.

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