When imagining sophomore summer, long hours spent in the library meticulously refining cover letters probably do not come to mind. Yet Owen Zidar '08 and many other students have spent the past days and weeks doing exactly that in order to meet Wednesday's midnight deadline to submit rsums electronically to corporations recruiting on campus.
"It's frustrating when your friends are outside or going to the river, and you're stuck in the library," Zidar said. "It was surprising how much stress there was involved [in the process]. I didn't anticipate this much stress -- the deadline kind of blindsided me."
Judging from the number of students waiting to review rsums and cover letters at the Career Services office, Zidar was not the only one caught off guard by the deadline. To add to the pressure, the number of students involved in summer recruiting has risen dramatically from last year, according to Monica Wilson, assistant director of employer relations at Career Services.
"There were over 100 students at the how to get an internship workshop [on June 26], which is about twice as many as last year," she said. "At the McKinsey [& Co.] information session [June 28], about 80 students showed up -- also twice as many as last year."
According to Wilson, fewer recruiters tend to come to Hanover in the summer, due to both the reduced number of potential interns on campus and its geographical isolation. This summer, 12 to 15 employers, mostly representing financial and consulting firms, accepted rsums and will be conducting interviews. Wilson was quick to stress, however, that firms in other industries accept rsums from students through recruiting. Employers generally receive between five and 70 applications from interested students.
Some, like Zidar, apply to many firms, hoping to choose the best combination of firm and location once offers are on the table.
"I applied to three consulting firms, three banking firms and one hedge fund," he said. "Basically, I know a lot of smart people who've gone into those three fields and I enjoy working with intelligent people. I'm also looking forward to seeing if any of those options is what I want to do later in life. It's like applying to colleges: apply to many, see where you get accepted and determine things afterward."
Others are focused more on a specific location in a specific industry. Katherine Gorman '08 applied only to Mercer Oliver Wyman, an international consulting firm.
"I thought I'd do consulting or banking, but banking involves too many hours. I really want to be in New York City this winter, and Mercer Oliver Wyman fit my criteria.
"I'd love to get an interview, but even if I don't, it's a good experience to be forced to put together a rsum and cover letter in order to meet a deadline," Gorman said. "It's been a great experience for my job application skills."
Both Zidar and Gorman used Career Services to review their rsums and cover letters -- a popular service, according to Wilson.
In addition to increased numbers of applicants, the gender gap in corporate recruiting has been diminishing as well.
"Historically there have been greater numbers of males interested in finance, but that's changing," Wilson said. "I haven't noticed any difference between gender groups. Companies are looking to diversify and appeal to as many different groups as possible."