Week 42 comes to an end and so has Block B of electives. The weather took a turn for the worse this week and we are back in the heart of Canadian winter. The tease of almost spring weather, combined with the slight reprieve in workload, has only made the sudden onset of renewed cold, snow, tests and papers at the end of this week seem more dubious than usual.
Global Strategy has ended, but it still lingers. There is a large research paper due and the deadline has been graciously extended into the weekend. We formed groups for this assignment. Almost all of the groups have some members that have not been able to focus on this particular assignment, given the workload from other classes. As a result most of us will be making use of the extra time given. Also, those of us in the class have been invited to join the professor's "listserv", which he uses to send out current global strategy and management papers that he finds from time to time.
Risk Management ended today at noon with a final exam that I'm sure everyone is glad to be finished. Louise apparently has been a very good professor, but that doesn't make the material covered any easier.
Dynamic Pricing (aka Revenue Management) also ended with a large project being completed today. Apparently the groups also had to give a presentation on their final models. I haven't heard much concerning this course since everyone taking it has been far too busy to discuss it.
No news on the Tri-Colour fund, Consulting Project or New Venture Project courses.
People continue to seek employment. The BCC continues to do what they can for the students who are still looking, but the fact remains that the economy is sluggish and continues to slow down. Last week we had a brief Q&A with the BCC Director, David Edwards, and the BCC Manager, Julia Blackstock. Both have been excellent to work with and continue to do their best for us. They revealed what we all already knew; numbers are down from previous years. This is true across all business schools, but nobody is willing to talk about it between schools (aside: as one professor put it "the moose in the room"). What's interesting is that the school has actually seen more positions posted at this time than for the same period last year. What appears to have been happening is that a lot of employers have been putting candidates on "hold" prior to the first actual interview or just after the first interview. This is likely because of the deteriorating business conditions they find themselves. With that being said, the class still remains optimistic and people are re-doubling their efforts. What else can you do but remain positive and keep looking?
This week some people found time for a game of "shinny" on one of Kingston's many outdoor rinks. The point four was moved from Thursday to Friday to accommodate all the Risk Management and Dynamic Pricing students and will be at "MyBar". Also, the Kingston Canadian Film Festival is coming up next week. The weekend should be filled with some much needed R'n'R while people prepare for Block C next week. Now back to that Global Strategy paper...
(Aside: One of my classmates has started a blog about his exchange experience to the Indian School of Business)
Informasi Terkini
10 years ago
7 comments:
Interesting comments on the job situation - I'm curious from your estimates how much % of the class has found jobs?
I know Ivey is probably at >60% for their May class - which is actually trending better than last years numbers - how does that stack up?
Actually, I just saw your comment in a blog post a bit below. Sorry, I should look harder before asking questions - How do you explain the discrepency between Ivey's and QSB's numbers?
My suspicion is that this is rooted in their selection process. From the people I've talked to who were looking at Ivey, their selection process seems to strongly favour candidates that already have networks and a target job prior to entering the program. In addition they take a lot less "career switchers".
There is also the possibility that my information is wrong or that both schools are using different definitions to describe the same statistic. Sometime you are considered placed if you have recieved and offer, regardless of the offer. In addition, often schools will eliminate you from their "total" if you are deemed to not be "actively" seeking employment. Both of these could significantly alter the values reported. Unfortunately I don't have more time to really dig in to this topic to find out more. If you do discover something of interest, please let me know.
Hi!
Thanks for this wonderful blog, which I have been following religiously!
So, typically, what percent of class make career jumps every year? And do you find being away from Toronto affecting your networking chances in Queen's?
With the current market scenario, I understand how challenging it must be. I hope everyone gets a great offer! :) Cheers!
I don't know about other years, but this year we seem to have 60 to 70% career changers in some capacity. A lot of my classmates have worked in IT, but would now like to work in management consulting. In addition we have quite a few people who want to get into iBanking (aside: this isn't the best year for that...lol)
Being away from Toronto doesn't affect us as much as you would think. We are regularly having events in Toronto. Speakers and recruiters make the trip out to Kingston as well. In addition, we are close enough that people from the class often make trips into Toronto (ie car or train) as it is only about a 2.5 hour drive. The school has done a good job of bridging the distance and if the plans of what I have heard for the future are accurate, this will only get better in the future.
Thanks for your comment and I'm glad you have enjoyed the blog. Let me know if anything is missing or if there is anything else you would like to know about.
Thanks for responding to my queries.
I understand how terribly difficult it must be for you to take time from the hectic schedule that Queen's presents. But whenever you can, could you present a first hand opinion of the challenges a 1 year MBA poses when it comes to Alum interactions? Typically, in a 2 year program, you have about 6-7 months to get to know your immediate seniors personally and that is very helpful in various tangible and intangible ways. Have you found it challenging to get in touch with alums? Do they come over to school regularly? Like for example, the point 4's could be a good place for alums to join whenever they have the time. Does this happen?
Another thing you could mention is how the BCC is planning to tackle the placement challenges? Having spoken to Julia Blackstock, I am in no doubt that Queen's has a very level headed career cell that will be very proactive in their initiatives to secure job offers for their students. But, could you offer any insight on what kind of initiatives / plan the school has for the future?
Shiv,
Always happy to answer questions.
1. Alumni:
Yes, this is a challenge faced by a 1 year program. The school addresses this by bringing alumni out to the school when possible. In addition, they arrange alumni mixers in Toronto a few times a year. Furthermore, since we are a smaller program our career services gets to know us quite well. As a result they are able to identify people we should reach out and contact from previous years (2 to 6 years out of the program). All of these help a lot and these are people who can actually help with employment and career research.
2. BCC changes for the future:
My information is that the BCC is planning to: increase Toronto visits/events, increase visits/events that bring alumni to the school, increase the mock interview schedule, bring the case prep up a level, bring the finance prep up a level. All of this being done much earlier in the year to get students ready earlier. There were some specifics that I can't share here since I don't know how accurate the information is, but talking to Julia Blackstock is probably the best advice I could give to any student.
On a final note I would like to emphasize that all of these activities depend much more on the participation of the students than any other factor. If you do not put forward the effort, no amount of prep or alumni events will help. In addition, the students that are really committed to helping themselves will always do well with or without this addition assistance. These improvements will help, but the student's seriousness and commitment to seeking employment and advancing their career is what matters the most. Remember, actions speak louder than words.
Hope this helped and please feel free to keep asking questions.
-Appleseed
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