An article in the October 27 edition of The Economist contained detailed information about both last year’s and this year’s recruiting process. The magazine claimed that Dean Kim Clark banned two companies from recruiting on campus for two years as a result of the offer retractions. The Harbus contacted MBA Program Chair Carl Kester to get the facts. He provided us with the following statement, which we print in its entirety:
For the Class of 2001, 12 students reported 11 companies that rescinded offers. MBA Career Services interceded on behalf of the students and succeeded in getting all but one of the offers restored, replaced (i.e., a different but satisfactorily equivalent offer at the same company), or a cash settlement satisfactory to the affected student. The one company with which we did not have any success was banned from recruiting on campus for 2 years. Note that the recent Economist article had the facts slightly wrong on this point too: it was only one company that was banned, not two as they reported.
As for delayed offers, students from the MBA Class of 2001 reported 6 companies that had imposed long delays on start dates that affected a couple dozen students. MBA Career Services received permission from affected students to intercede on their behalf with three of these companies. Subsequently, these three were placed on a two-year recruiting probation for violations of our recruiting policies with respect to these delays.
For all companies that have been banned or placed on probation, a link now exists on their Baker Library Company Info page that informs students of their violation and status. The link will last throughout their period of probation.
Students should know that we can only respond on their behalf if violations of our recruiting policies are brought to our attention by them. All discussions with students seeking counsel about how to deal with such violations are kept in confidence. We will contact violating companies and intercede on a student’s behalf only if we have permission from the student. Students experiencing difficulty with an offer are advised to bring their problems to the attention of Career Services as soon as possible. Often, a timely response is crucial to achieving a positive result.
