Roughly one-fifth of the class of 2016, or 244 students, applied for this summer’s recruiting cycle. The Center for Professional Development hosted recruitment, assistant director for employer relations Fiona Cooke said. Two hundred were offered first-round interviews, and the number of students who will take jobs is not yet finalized. The number of students participating in the process has increased for the past several years.
Last summer, 235 students participated in recruiting, and 201 students participated in 2012. By contrast, only 154 students participated in recruitment for fall and winter internships in 2009. The number of applications has increased between 2012 and 2013. In 2012, students submitted a total of 1,122 applications compared to 2,120 in 2013.
While commonly referred to by students as “corporate recruiting,” Cooke stressed that opportunities exist outside the fields of finance and consulting.
Students sought opportunities at 25 companies, including 10 finance firms, nine consulting firms, three marketing, sales and business development firms, two law firms and one product management firm. Several of these companies also offered opportunities in different divisions within their respective firms.
To help students prepare, the CPD hosted recruiting workshops before major deadlines, which included hour-long presentations that summarized available opportunities and the recruiting process, and offered tips on how to interview, how to use Dartboard and how the process works for students who are off campus, Cooke said.
The CPD also hosted about 15 potential employers prior to when recruiting officially began and hosted events with alumni to give students opportunities to learn about fields in which they are interested, CPD senior associate director Monica Wilson said, adding that these sessions occur every term.
Several campus groups also provided assistance to students to prepare for recruiting.
Women in Business hosted a recruiting overview, resume and cover letter workshop and interview preparation workshops, summer president Claire Yao ’16 said. At the end of every meeting, attendees broke into small groups for a more personalized preparation approach.
Yao said that the group also hosted current events breakfasts every Wednesday morning, so that students would become familiar with issues in the news, in case such a topic came up in an interview.
The Dartmouth Investment and Philanthropy Program also worked to help students prepare, investment committee member Bob Klingenberger ’16 said. The group decided that many members would likely benefit from recruiting preparation sessions, he said.
He said that the first two sessions delved into the technical aspects of investment interviews, since many interviews ask about the three basic financial statements — balance sheets, income statements and statements of cash flows. They also gave a tutorial on how to give a basic stock pitch, another very common technical question, he said.
“[Interviewers] want to know you’ve been following the markets,” he said.
Sophie Hoffman ’16, who will work in the credit risk management and advisory department within the finance division at Goldman Sachs this winter, said that she had an overall good experience going through the recruitment process.
“It was very time-consuming and stressful, but I think it was a great learning opportunity and helped me to get more comfortable with networking and talking to professionals,” she said.
To prepare, Hoffman said she reached out to Dartmouth alumni in germane fields, while also attending CPD workshops and one-on-one appointments. She also prepared for interviews with friends. Despite the competitive nature of the recruiting process, she said her preparation with other students was a collaborative effort overall.
