Although corporate recruiting is very prominent in a Dartmouth junior or senior's final years at the College, the recent economic boom placed it at the center of a campus discussion on graduates' future career prospects.
The Classes of 1999 and 2000 were especially affected and since their graduation, many have questioned their satisfaction, or dissatisfaction with their job placements.
Corporate recruiting has become and increasingly dominant trend with students over the past five years, especially with clear evidence of the country's burgeoning prosperity.
"I remember reading newspapers during my senior year and watching stock prices go through the roof," Janelle Ruley '00 said. "It's a very contagious atmosphere when the economy is booming."
The success of the business world was not lost upon Dartmouth students and consequently, many graduates chose to go on to work in fields such as investment banking and consulting.
However, many alumni The Dartmouth spoke to also commented that it was not the excitement of a thriving economy that drove some to careers in the corporate world, but the higher salaries involved.
"The jobs that Dartmouth was providing via corporate recruiting were higher paying," Betsy Querna '00 said, "and, of course, it increases their allure. You can choose to make either $50,000 or $20,000. It's a fairly easy choice for most."
Kathryn Hutchinson, director of Career Services, said that signing bonuses in corporate recruiting situations have been around for a long time and are often in the range of $1,000 to $7,000.
However, Hutchinson insisted that although it may appear to the contrary, graduates' interests are usually pretty diverse and "we don't make blanket generalizations [about students' career choices]."
Hutchinson also noted that, "We see a lot of people pursue [corporate recruiting] because they don't know what their other options are."
Many recent alumni agreed with this statement, emphasizing that lack of knowledge about career opportunities is often what pushes a graduate into one field or another.
"A lot of people do [corporate recruiting] not really knowing what they're getting into, just like a lot of people go to law school without knowing what it entails," Noah Phillips '00 said.
Danya Pincavage '00 also felt that part of the blame for students' lack of knowledge about career options was due to Career Services itself. "Despite Career Services' supposition that they have other options to offer in other job fields, such as journalism or the arts, they really don't."
Stressing its draw as a liberal arts educational institution, Dartmouth has often been cited as not adequately preparing its students for the job market.
"That's the interesting thing about a liberal arts school, you don't really learn anything, in the words of lots of parents, practical," said Marc Bruni '00, who is currently directing "Into the Woods" at the Hopkins Center. "You learn how to learn. It is not a skill-oriented education. It equally prepares or unprepares you."
Querna mentioned that "Dartmouth, as a liberal arts college, doesn't really prepare you for the real world, for a job hunt. So when it came to senior year [students] either didn't know how to look for a job or took the higher-paying jobs that Dartmouth was providing via corporate recruiting."
Ruley also mentioned that one of the reasons why corporate recruiting might be so popular is that it affords students the opportunities to keep their doors open.
"I think in some ways you can liken the experience to sophomore year rush," Ruley explained. "[People] go through rush to keep doors open, so that if they want to join a Greek house, they can do it."
Many of the alumni that spoke to The Dartmouth were very firm on the fact that Dartmouth is not solely a feeder for corporate recruiting.
"Dartmouth is an elite school and it feeds into professions very naturally," Phillips said. "Some of it has to do with access to these professions, but more of it has to do with students' ambitions ... Dartmouth has its doctors, lawyers, consultants but it also has its Teach for America participants and people who are not concerned at all with material well-being."
Ruley, who is working at a small technology-consulting firm, was very positive about her corporate recruiting experience.
"I started with corporate recruiting in the fall and I learned ... that consulting would be what I was looking for."
Both Bruni and Querna took rather unorthodox approaches to their careers after their graduations.
Bruni, who is currently working as a director in New York's theater world, said that "I had no idea what I was going to do, and the arts world is really different because you're never really in a steady place."
Querna, after dropping out of the first round of corporate recruiting at Dartmouth, decided to spend her time right after college travelling. "I went to India and then to Utah to do non-career stuff." She is now working with National Geographic and is a production coordinator for a new television show.
And while consulting or investment banking jobs have yielded higher salaries for many Dartmouth graduates, the corporate recruiting trend may take a turn for the downside in the near future.
"Some financial employers have said that they may be somewhat conservative in their hiring in the next few years," Hutchinson said when asked about current employment opportunities.
Phillips admitted, "there are tremendous amounts of kids from my class being laid off or leaving their job."
My sense is that [investment banking] is really not what it was a year ago," Phillips said, "and there is a lack of capital for new business ventures. Not so many businesses are being started and there are trends towards cost-cutting."
