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After about a half-hour, the MBA students became noticeably antsy — around the corner was a room full of potential opportunity, waiting to be tapped through networking.
Five MIT Sloan School of Management students last week discussed their job prospects upon graduation, and their strategies for getting work in a tight labor market. The students — who were waiting to attend a networking reception at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge as part of Sloan’s yearly “Tech Trek” to local companies and Silicon Valley — mostly saw their employment cups as half-full despite the recession, and agreed that networking was more important than ever.
John Marcus, a second-year media track student, will graduate in May. He’s looking for a job with a mobile startup in the Boston area. Marcus said he’s nervous about the job hunt, but described it as a challenge that could be met with a hefty increase in networking.
“What got me an internship at a mobile startup (Vlingo Corp.) last year isn’t enough to cut it this year,” he said.
Heather Ryan, a first-year student also in the media track, agreed, citing networking’s serendipitous benefits.
“You never know who you’re going to stand next to who’ll say, ‘Oh, I’m doing that, too,’” Ryan said.
New England companies hosting students for the Tech Trek program were mostly young companies this year, including uLocate Communications Inc., Kayak.com, HubSpot Inc., EnerNOC Inc., ZeGen LLC and Aspen Aerogels Inc.
Ryan and fellow first-year student Ann Verbin also visited larger companies on the West Coast, including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc.
Another first-year student, Kristin Badowski, said she was pleasantly surprised by the Tech Trek companies’ openness to taking on interns — even creating new internships. Still, she added, “It is a great time to be in school.”
The economy hasn’t had a chilling effect on Sloan students launching startups, according to second-year energy track student Mike Khusid. He said people are simply developing their prototypes to be ready for when the economy improves.
“If people want to start a company, they do it,” he said.
Marcus is one of those people — he’s planning a passive entertainment technology startup.
“You just have to be creative where you get your money,” he said.
The small sampling in the room belied news reports of brain drain, as all five plan to stay in the Boston area upon graduation for a variety of reasons, including ties to family and the MIT community. Marcus also had a strategic reason for staying put — startup saturation on the West Coast.
“You go out West, there are seven of those same companies,” he said.
Khusid is a second-year student in Sloan’s energy management program and won’t graduate until September or December 2009, making his outlook a but murkier.
“Companies don’t know what’s going to happen in a year,” he said.
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