In a Wall Street Journal article from September 20, 2006 entitled “M.B.A. Survey: Something Old, Something New” discussing the WSJ ranking of schools granting an MBA, Ronald Alsop reported the percentage of recruiters who ranked an attribute as “very important” to them:
| 89.0 | Communication and interpersonal skills |
| 86.9 | Ability to work well within a team |
| 86.2 | Personal ethics and integrity |
| 84.3 | Analytical and problem-solving skills |
| 82.9 | Work ethic |
| 74.5 | Fit with the corporate culture |
| 74.0 | Success with past hires |
| 72.5 | Leadership potential |
| 67.1 | Strategic thinking |
| 64.9 | Likelihood of recruiting “stars” |
| 53.9 | Willingness of students to relocate to the required job location |
| 50.7 | Well-rounded |
| 43.2 | Student “chemistry” |
| 38.0 | Content of the core curriculum |
| 35.7 | Students’ years of work experience |
| 31.7 | Overall value for the money invested in the recruiting effort |
| 29.0 | Incorporates experiential learning into the curriculum |
| 27.1 | Career-services office |
| 25.9 | Faculty expertise |
| 21.0 | Students’ international knowledge and experience |
| 16.7 | Commitment to corporate social responsibility |
As someone closely affiliated with the Ross BBA Program, I found the above very interesting. While these are recruiters’ opinions related to hiring MBAs, these also apply quite nicely to BBAs, and should tell BBAs a lot about what they should focus on both inside and outside of the classroom. Let’s look at those attributes that at least 70% of recruiters thought was very important:
- Communication and interpersonal skills
- Your writing and speaking skills, and your experience working with a team getting things done. And working on a team not necessarily just as a leader, but also as a good team player.
- Ability to work well within a team
- This is amazingly important to companies. Most of your work, actually all of your work, involves working on teams. The more experience you can gain working in teams, the better you’ll be.
- Personal ethics and integrity
- It is a better situation by far to not have any ethical problems appear in your work or school record. Do not take the easy way out. At the end of the day, your integrity is all that you have. Don’t do anything to devalue it.
- Analytical and problem-solving skills
- This is one area in which our curriculum really gives the students a workout. We do this over and over again, in many different forms. Our BBA graduates should be top-notch by the time they graduate.
- Work ethic
- The more that you can show that you are diligent, organized, and committed to getting the job done, the more employers will be interested in you.
- Fit with the corporate culture
- This is what fly-backs are all about. This is also what internships are all about. Every day is an interview. They want to see what kind of person you are, and if you are a good “fit”. They’re not worried about whether you’re smart enough, they want to know if they want to have you around the office for a few years.
- Success with past hires
- Everything past hires (and past interviewees) have done influence what recruiters think about Ross. That is why you should be on your best behavior when you are interacting with recruiters. You’re not just influencing how the company feels about you — you’re influencing how the recruiter feels about Ross.
- Leadership potential
- Many times this comes shining through (or doesn’t!) in your extracurriculars.
What does this tell us? BBAs should work at their teamwork skills, their communication skills, and their analytical skills. They should work on doing “good works”. And they should look for experiences outside the classroom in which they can exercise and develop their leadership ability. This sounds like a good plan, and one which BBAs would be good to think about.
