I was watching a movie, The Proposal, last weekend—it was entertaining enough, certainly not one that will make my top 50 list.  But mid-movie, the leading actor delivered a line that really struck me:  “the only thing you really own is your story, make it a good one.”  I’m not ready to philosophize on my life and my story yet, but as I work with so many young MBA students, I began to think about how that quote applies in two ways:  one, you have a story to tell right now that will determine if you get that job you are gunning for; and two, you are at a moment in your life to significantly shape your story—make it a good one.

Your story in the networking/interviewing/job candidacy process is, in my opinion, the difference between breaking through, or not.  If you have a compelling story, the entire interview hangs together and compels the interviewer to see the “fit” between you and the opportunity.  This week I was working with a second-year Darden student—she had a successful internship which resulted in an offer and she is a Second-Year Career Coach (a select group of students chosen to “coach” first-year students in the job search process).  As a coach, she has received positive feedback from students on her ability to help them with their stories, yet this week she came to see me because she didn’t feel her story was as compelling as it should be.  I admire her introspection and willingness to both be a coach and be coached.  One of my true passions is helping students develop this skill (see my blog on Daniel Pink’s chapter on “Story Telling” in his book, A Whole New Mind, or go to the source).   What I believe we uncovered in our discussion about her story was the need for her to be direct and upfront about how what she has done in the past weaves together nicely to perfectly prepare her to interview for this job at this time.  While she was communicating her transferable skills and the brief history of her accomplishments, she was missing the compelling, believable story.  In the process of our 45 minutes together, I think she got much closer.  At least, I was convinced.

What makes a story compelling?  It really is hard to put a finger on it.  It’s certainly not a history lesson in what you have done.  It’s also not a recitation of skills that you know the job requires.  A good story is not groveling and just saying what the interviewer wants to hear.  The trouble with these three approaches is that anyone’s story could be the same as yours.  Instead, a good story is uniquely yours—it celebrates your accomplishments, highlights your skills, and yet demonstrates your vulnerabilities and moral fiber.  The hero in the story is YOU.  It shows what you have discovered about yourself and where those discoveries are leading you.  It begs more detail and questions.  It sets up the remainder of the interview.  It creates a bond from the beginning of the interview.  The story is what makes you, you.

Now to my second point:  your career will be punctuated with a few seminal events.  Choosing to attend Darden is certainly one of them.  You had a story up to this point, and many of you want to make a significant change in your story at this point in your life.  You had dreams and hopes when you applied to business school.  Are you still pursuing those dreams, or bigger ones?  I encourage you to let go of the herd mentality of MBA students—go after what you are dreaming about.  I’ve met with students in the past few months who want to make significant career changes into passions not normally pursued by MBAs.  Are you still chasing those dreams?  Equally importantly, do you have a compelling story of why that dream makes sense both for you and for the target of your dreams?  If not, keep working at it.  It’s those that have a dream that develop and deliver the most compelling stories.  Those trying to fake it usually have trouble making it believable.

So, your story…in the end it’s the only thing you really own.  Make it a good one.

The first person is an old friend, one I've known since my time at Darden.  He is exceptionally smart and successful, running or investing in multiple businesses, leading hundreds of employees or constituents.  When I come to Atlanta, about twice a year, he makes time to see me--generally molding to my schedule and putting my needs first.  We usually, as was this case this time, can only squeeze in about an hour of time to talk.  Yet, when I leave my visit with him, I feel great.  He lauds me on my job, encourages me on my endeavors, listens when I talk, relays stories that relate to my needs, and digs deeply into my personal life.  We pick up like we have never been separated.  I don’t have many close male friends, yet it’s as if we have been friends forever.  When he asks me questions, he asks deep personal questions.  When he talks with me, he tells me what’s really happening in his life, with what he is struggling, and why he is feeling the way he is feeling.  When he left, I felt accepted and affirmed.

The second person is a new friend, a colleague from my current job.  We see each other once or twice per year and correspond infrequently.  We met this week to share ideas about our field, compare notes about programs, and commiserate on the bad economy.   She too has the ability to really focus on a person.  She never checked her Blackberry.  She lost track of time during our visit.  She took extra time to give me a tour.  She held back nothing, though her program is probably the best in the industry and she’s probably the best in her field.  She relayed a professional struggle that she is dealing with—which has turned into a personal breakthrough.  I learned from her experience.  As I look back, she let me do most of the talking.  Yet, when I left, I felt affirmed and accepted.

Finally, the third person who left me feeling the same way as the other two is a person I met for the first time this week.  I met her at a admissions reception in Boston—she’s a prospective student.  Of course, she’s in the position of perhaps feeling the need to “suck up” given she’s trying to get into Darden, but I didn’t feel that way at all.  We probably had three short chats throughout the evening—five to ten minutes each.  During each encounter, she exhibited an unusual energy and a genuine interest in the person with whom she was talking.  She asked probing questions, and she had done her homework on those she would encounter during the evening.  While her experience (current job) was good, it was her personal magnetism and personal presence that make believe she’ll be a great fit for Darden.  More than that, she comes across as someone I’ll want to see become a fellow alum.  After our meeting, I (and others) felt accepted and affirmed.

Now let me relate this to your job search.  When I talk to recruiters about characteristics that they seek from new employees, I always get a great list of things like problem solving skills, analytical skills, team work, leadership, creativity, etc.  But most students have these skills.  The acid test is something like “someone I wouldn’t mind being stuck in an airport with.”  Most MBA jobs require many, many hours of work per week, and we all want to work with someone with whom we enjoy. 

These three folks are ones with whom I wouldn’t mind being stuck in an airport.  Not just because they are interesting and fun, but when I am with them, I feel like a better person.  I actually want to be a better person when I’m around them.

(By the way, I’m sure there exists good literature about this subject.  I just started a terrific book that discusses a related topic—Powered by Feel, by James Clawson (Darden professor and good friend) and Doug Newburg.  Jim and Doug explore the question, “How do you want to feel?”  While I haven’t quite worked completely through the answer, I believe for me, and for many others, accepted and affirmed might come up (though, according to Clawson’s work, these emotions might reflect “outside in” thinking. (Clawson and Newburg, p. 28.)  Perhaps the subject of a subsequent blog.)

Based on my observation of this week’s travels and my encounters with these three different individuals, I offer these thoughts on building these types of connections in your brief encounters and interviews with potential employers:

·        Ask about them, and listen to the answers.

·        Know them as best you can before you meet them, so that you can get personal more quickly.

·        Affirm the person and the conversation:  this is the hardest, because faking it is easy to spot.

·        Don’t be afraid to get personal, opening up and revealing yourself to them. 

By the way, those who can’t do, blog.  I blog what I struggle, yet aspire, to do.

One of our recent speakers at Darden’s Leadership Speaker Series used a quote that really struck me:  the quote was something like, “If you don’t take a risk, then you may never reach your full potential.”  This resonated with me, as I reflected on my own career and thought about our students at the beginning of their career.

This year I’m twenty-five years into my business career.  I’ve taken a couple of large, life-changing risks and innumerable small ones.  I’ve also “chickened” our on a couple of risks that could have been life altering and maybe career enhancing.  In 1998 I sought and accepted a senior marketing role in Singapore.  My wife, Sally and kids (ages 10, 7, and 5) moved to Singapore for nearly two years.  Many advised me that an international assignment was career limited—I’d be lost and lose “pace” with my peers.  What the move actually did was change the career game for me, caused me to think more deeply about my career aspirations, and provided enormous personal growth.

Six years ago I took another substantial career risk by leaving corporate America and pursuing a passion in educational leadership, marketing a brand for which I had passion and a deep sense of gratitude.  While I thought the move was risky, I felt it was a risk worth taking.  In the words frequently used by Dean Bob Bruner when speaking about Darden’s future:  for me, standing still was not an option.  (Perhaps more details should be the subject of a future blog.)  I’ve not looked back for the past six years.  I’ve grown and developed: it would be hard to find a job I love more.

On the flip side:  at one pivotal point in my career, I turned down an offer from a Fortune 50 multi-national company because I thought it was too risky.  The job was for a company I considered not in the top tier of “marketing” companies and would have required another relocation (my eighth, but who was counting).  Within a year the person that was hired was promoted to president of the division.  It could have been me.  Or could it?  I’ll never know.  I was afraid to take the risk.  Maybe right, maybe wrong.

A few principles I have learned when experiencing career risks:

·         Career risks early in one’s career leave more time for recovery from a bad mistake;

·         Career risks must be balanced with and taken in context of personal (familial) needs and personal risks;

·         Career risks in pursuit of a passion leave little room for regret;

·         Career risks should be taken only when a thorough action plan has been created to minimize the risks;

·         Nearly all career risks provide opportunity for growth;

·         Standing still in not an option—not taking the occasional career risk is in itself a career risk.

The reason the two students mentioned at the beginning of this blog are taking such a risk is that they have to:  they have to bet on a market that may or may not develop.  Technology companies don’t generally define their hiring needs until spring.  Yet, the on-Gounds recruiting machine will come and go by then.  In addition most technology companies are 3000 miles away and require personal investment of time and money to build the relationships necessary.  What excites me about these students is their detailed action plans for managing this risk.  They are not waiting until the spring, but are investing now in building the network to be successful.

So, to the two students with whom I met this week:  thanks for reminding me personally that career risks lead to substantial rewards.  More importantly, thanks for reminding me how I should be counseling new MBA student risk takers.  I’m sure I’ve said it before (Breakthrough Career Development Advice, Mariah Carey’s Career Advice on American Idol, Bee Movie Guide to Career Development—Part 1), but it’s worth saying it again:

·         Pursue your passion.  Now is the easiest time in your career to take a risk.  Don’t follow the MBA sheep unless they are pursuing your passion.

·         Be patient.  You may have to wait until spring.  You may have to wait until five years after graduation. (Yesterday, I ran into a 2004 alumnae who went through three jobs since graduation before landing a few months ago in the job she really wanted at graduation.)

·         Own it.  Don’t blame Darden for not being strong in your area of passion.  Don’t blame the recruiting calendar for presenting some opportunities before others.  Don’t sit back and wait for it to come to you (or to pass you by).

·         Let me (or others in your life) help you along the way.

A student this week suggested that yes, I (as a surrogate for Darden Career Consultants in general) should be tougher. The student's rationale: he had just met with an outside consultant, Karen Solorow, President of Coaching for Success, and she had provided more direct and tougher advice that he had received from Darden’s own.  I asked Karen why she was so tough.  Her answer: this generation of students needs it right between the eyes; kind but direct.  My interpretation:  having received positive reinforcement feedback since the preschool 6th-place trophy in soccer, this generation is shocked with less than positive feedback and therefore has a bit of trouble hearing it.

You may be thinking that "tougher" is obvious.  Why wouldn’t you be tougher?  For those of you with children, why aren’t you tougher on them?

I think we aren’t tougher because of the risks, and I believe my biggest risk is disenfranchising students.  Students come to business school with a clear set of expectation for their careers, and to hear in the first few months that their aspirations are unattainable risks alienating them.  I believe it is important for students’ placement success that they stay engaged with me (or their Career Consultant), so I don't want to scare them off.  So, my answer to students (or those receiving feedback):  assume positive intent. 

Another risk is the personal one – most of us like to be liked.  We (I) fear rejection.  In delivering constructive feedback I always worry that the negative feedback will be misconstrued as a judgment of the person and their character.  In turn, the person will reject not my feedback, but me.  My answer to this one:  get over it Bubba--it's not about me, it's about helping the other person.

Challenging, constructive feedback is as difficult to deliver as it is to receive, and sometimes not so useful. Unless a person is prepared for it, feedback may fall on deaf ears.  Finally when giving feedback, many of us (I) have a fear of being wrong-or in more psycho-babbly terms, have a fear of being found out as an imposter.  We question our own advice because we are not quite sure we are qualified to give it.  My counter to myself:   bologna!  I offer an opinion based on six years of career management experience and twenty years of business experience, so I should have the confidence that my experience (not advice, a subtle difference) will be valuable to the students.

Based on this one student's experience with Karen, and my own experience this week, my worry is somewhat misconstrued.  I recently received unsolicited, construction (read, negative) feedback, and I (1) am not disenfranchised; (2) still like the person; and (3) found it useful, even though the deliverer was not expert on the subject.

Here’s what happened to me.  I am on a very important task force at Darden with several senior academic faculty members.  I enjoy being on the team, working side-by-side with talented, brilliant scholars trying to solve problems of gargantuan proportions.  After over six months with the team I have recently felt a bit alienated and underappreciated. (Here’s where I could justify my behavior, but that defeats the purpose.) So rather than be constructive and open with the team about my feelings, I shut down a bit.  The team leader took the opportunity to pull me aside and call me out on my behavior – not that I was being quiet, but that I was showing obvious frustration to the point of belligerence.  Ouch.  But he was a master of delivering.  He reinforced positive behavior, re-iterated why I was chosen to be on the team in the first place, and encouraged me to lead the group, not follow.  Right away I recognized my behavior and began to change immediately.  My erosion of confidence in his leadership reversed – I recognized once again why he was chosen in the first place.  And I truly liked and respected him for his courage to speak up.

Never too old to keep learning.  I hate feedback, yet I crave it daily.  Certainly this is not the only time I’ve received feedback that I found useful.  As I reflect, tough feedback has been part of several significant growth times in my life.

So, I’ve gotten way too personal here.  This is supposed to be about you.  Here’s a head’s up:  I’m going to be tougher.  It’s what I get paid the big bucks for.  But when I’m tougher, remember I deliver with positive intent – not to disenfranchise, but to motivate.  It’s not about your person, it’s about your approach to job search.  And it comes from me based on my experience, my lens, my point of view.  It may be wrong, but it’s how I see it.

Start with the end in mind.

Be different.

Be authentic.

Be empathetic.

Be provocative.

Be there.

He showed samples of great marketing following these principles—from both General Mills and other companies.  He inspired me and the students.  Thanks Mark.

He also made me think a bit more clearly about something I was in the process of blogging on this week and actually inspired me into the ending. 

Given the time of year and the place in the recruiting cycle, I have been spending a great deal of time with students on their personal story and strategies for managing their personal brand.   I enjoy helping students figure out their brand and discussing strategies to manage and market it.  Personally, though, I’m having a brand crisis:  you see, when I was born, my two-year old sister couldn’t say little brother, so she (affectionately?) called me little Bubba.  It stuck.  For the past 4$%^& years, anyone who knows me OUTSIDE the professional world knows me as Bubba.  Once a Bubba, always a Bubba. 

However, I became Everette professionally when I graduated from Darden.  Why?  My resume of course said Everette at the top, and my first interviewer, and subsequent boss, thought Everette more professional (and given I was working in NY, less Southern) than Bubba, so Everette I became.  Besides, it was my Dad’s middle name, and I am proud to sport it.

But, two personal brands are not recommended.  For many years, living in big cities like New York, I could keep my two worlds (personal and professional) apart.  But then when I moved to Charlottesville, I (like George on Seinfeld) saw my two worlds begin to collide.  An example:  recently, I was out bike riding, had a flat tire, and (thank goodness we’re in Charlottesville), some good Samaritan stopped to help me.  Clearly a personal situation.  I introduced myself as Bubba, but within a few minutes of conversation, realized that this Samaritan was connected to my professional network.  Hence, a mid-stream switch to Everette.  Given the size of Charlottesville, these two worlds collide frequently.  Another example:  my Facebook persona.  I exist on Facebook because I find it useful to connect with students and alumni of Darden.  Hence, Everette.  Yet, many of my high school friends have discovered Everette and think Everette resembles their high school classmate Bubba.  Not to mention Sally, my wife, who 25 years ago, said “I Sally, take thee, Bubba.”  Everette was nowhere in the picture.  Such confusion.

During Mark’s presentation, something hit me:  I like being Everette and Bubba.  Everette’s a pretty cool name—professional, staid, yet approachable, lends itself to its own set of affectionate nicknames (Ev, E, Big E), and carries on a great family legacy.  Bubba—likes to have fun, good friend to have, boy next door.  Both work for me.  I thought earlier in my career that I might just force Everette into more situations—let Everette be my dominant world.  But you know what:  as I grow older (ouch), I think Bubba fits.  I think it’s authentic.  So I’m going to be a Bubba and an Everette.

So the lesson for all you Giffs, Buckys, Jimbos, Cookies, Billys, Treys, Woodys, Chrissys, KatieBeths, Jacks and Tines:   be authentic.  Stick with whatever fits you.  Don’t let a well-intentioned boss somewhere along the way talk you out of your name.  And don’t let a childhood nickname haunt you if you don’t like it and it doesn’t fit.  Just abandon it at any key transition point and don’t look back.  Be authentic.

Signed:  Everette Bubba Fortner

InterviewStream is a web-based service that records you via webcam while you respond to a couple of interview questions from the program.  You then can watch and try again and again until you get the answer the way you want.  My favorite feature is a counter on screen for you to count all your “like”, “ya know” and other fillers.  Then, you send the link to a friend or Career Consultant who can view your answers and give you feedback via the program.*

Our Career Center has recommended InterviewStream the last couple of years.  And according to our Google Analytics, few have availed themselves of the pleasure.  I asked in a second-year class last week how many students have tried it.  One student raised his hand. I asked if he could tell the class what he thought (one lesson a teacher should always heed:  never ask a question to which you don’t know the answer).  He said something very close to:  “It was the most awkward, unpleasant thing I’ve done for my career search…but, it was extremely helpful.”  Whew!  That was close.

Last week, my emerging favorite second-year student followed my advice and answered two questions for me on InterviewStream before meeting with me.  Yes, it was awkward, she said, but incredibly helpful.  She re-worked her answers until she felt better about them, then sent it to me.  Before I met with her, I spent about 10 minutes reviewing the answers (which were about 3 minutes of actual video).  I gave her feedback to think about via email before our meeting that afternoon.  She came to the meeting, and we once again viewed the answers, pausing to emphasize areas of strength or concern.

What an incredibly efficient and effective use of time and technology!  And it was fun to use as a reviewing device.  I felt like I was playing.  I felt like a kid again.  Okay, so I get carried away.  I lost track of time as I was so focused on how could I help this student get this answer to communicate what she hoped it would.  I was in the zone.  Flow, I think they call it.
Try playing more, this week using InterviewStream.

*Students can use the system in the Library video room (room 182 on the main floor) and in CDC Interview Room 11 (Instructions and a tutorial are available in both rooms). Students may also sign out a loaner webcam for overnight use. Students with their own webcams can use InterviewStream. More information about InterviewStream can be found on the CDC portal.

Pink sets up the concept this way:

But his popularity around the world, and especially the gradual acceptance of laughter clubs in offices and boardrooms, reveals another important dimension of the Conceptual Age—a move away from sober seriousness as a measure of ability and the elevation of the next essential high-concept, high-touch aptitude:  Play.
For more background on Pink’s book, the first four senses (Design, Story, Symphony and Empathy), and a discussion of the Conceptual Age, see my previous postings (Tell Your Story; Design Sensibility Is the Answer to Your Next Career Question; Breakthrough Career Advice (No, really this time!) ) or go straight to the source:   www.danpink.com .   

Is Play, as a concept, embedded in corporate America yet?  Yes.  Have you flown Southwest Airlines and been subjected to one of the flight attendants turned comic?  Did you know that the US Army developed a training “game,” that if commercialized, would have sold $600 million in sales?  Have you done the Lego exercise in First Year Operations yet?   Did you know that, according to research done by Fabio Sala and published in the Harvard Business Review, the most effective managers deployed humor twice as often than middle-of-the-pack managers.

Why is play (and the associated concepts of humor and joyfulness) making its way into the boardroom?  Pink says:  “Humor embodies many of the right (brain) hemisphere’s most powerful attributes—the ability to place situations in context, to glimpse the big picture, and to combine differing perspectives into new alignments.”  Kataria explains:  “Laughter can play a major role in reducing stress in the workplace…(and that businesses believe that) serious people are more responsible.  That’s not true.  That’s yesterday’s news.  Laughing people are more creative people.  They are more productive people.  People who laugh together can work together.”

Therein lies one of the key career connections:  people (interviewers) want to work with (hire) people that they enjoy being around.  Think of consultants who have to travel Monday through Thursday with each other:  one of the most important hiring criterions is how much you like the candidate. 

A second career connection:  your body language completely changes in an interview when you smile.  I worked with a Second Year student this week, whom I believe is on her way to a highly successful (though full of hard work) job search this year.  When we were working together, I suggested she smile more.  She did, and proved my point that revealing your personality with just a smile can make you a more attractive candidate to an interviewer. 

Third:  laughing in an interview reduces your stress and causes you to get more comfortable.  This in turn allows you to open up more.

Fourth:  an ability (and willingness) to interject humor demonstrates confidence and professional presence.  These two competencies are extremely difficult to assess in an interview, yet a robust sense of humor clearly demonstrates both.

Last:  when consultants conduct case interviews, they want to see both sides of your brain at work.  Not just the structured, analytical side, but the free-flowing creative side.  Laugh, and get that part of the brain working.  Bring toys, and use those to make a point. 

One of the highlights in my first class on the sometimes emotionally-wrought subject of self assessment with Darden First Year students this year, a wonderful Chinese student relayed to the class that in order to prepare for Darden, she googled “how to be funny in America.”  The class exploded in laughter at the thought.  Yet, she clearly understood the importance of humor.  And the laughter increased the intimacy of the class.  The discussion continued at an even deeper level.

A little bit more about play:  as a brand manager at General Foods in the late 80s (wow, that makes me sound old), my assistant brand manager and I were assigned to manage into oblivion the declining but highly profitable brand Shake ‘n Bake Coating Mix.  Our division had a large promotion going with the NFL, so we always had an NFL football in our offices as a tchotchke.  For weeks we stood 25 feet apart in the hallway throwing the football back and forth, brainstorming how to fix Shake ‘n Bake.  People laughed and complained.  People joined us occasionally.  We even broke the overhead light (I swear it was Andy).  But, we used our hallway antics as a way to lighten the load on the group and brainstorm new ideas.  We kept the group engaged, and the brand turned around. 

Play as a career strategy?  How about poker night for a club event with an investment bank?  How about using Sponsors Executive Residence Center’s game space to have game night as a career event with Second Years and First Years sharing their leads and contacts?  How about inviting your career consultant to go for a run?  I’m down for that.

Play more.

Monday, hard to wake up
Fill my coffee cup, I'm out the door
Yeah, the freeway's standing still today
It's gonna make me late, and thats for sure
I'm running out of gas and out of time
Never gonna make it there by nine

Chorus:
There's gotta be something more
Gotta be more than this
I need a little less hard time
I need a little more bliss
I'm gonna take my chances
Taking a chance I might
Find what I'm looking for
There's gotta be something more

Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland rocked the JPJ Arena last night.  She performed as the opening act for Keith Urban, but she more than warmed up the crowd.  While I’m dancing in row 109 waiving my phone to “Something More,” I realized she might just be talking about MBA careers.  We espouse a “matching model” of career search—first understanding one’s self, then finding a career that matches one’s life themes.  I’ve already spoken to several Second Year Darden students who spent the summer waking up on Mondays like Sugarland sings, “There’s gotta be something more, gotta be more than this.”   Perhaps these Second Years took jobs that they should not have, for reasons they should not have.  I hope they didn’t get carried away in that horde of students who head to high-paying MBA jobs just because they were the easy ones to pursue.

Five years and there's no doubt
That I'm burnt out, I've had enough
So now boss man, here's my two weeks
I'll make it short and sweet, so listen up
I could work my life away, but why?
I got things to do before die

A mistake made in the summer internship search is easily reversible.  I urge those students who were less than satisfied with their summer, who felt no passion for what they were doing, to re-enter the search.  Don’t settle.  Don’t wake up five years from now and feel burned out, regretting five years of your life.  So many Second Years spend about five minutes in the job search in September, realize how little they like the enormous amount of work a job search entails, and then accept their unacceptable summer offer out of resignation.

Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate
I believe that happiness is something we create
You best believe that I'm not gonna wait
'Cause there's gotta be something more

Sugarland even sang about the Locus of Control instrument that we do in career class.  Locus of Control refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them, and was developed in 1954 by Julian B. Rotter.  I’ll have to go with Nettle’s “I believe that happiness is something we create” philosophy.  It’s easy to let the First Year or Second Year job search “happen to you,” rather than controlling the process and the outcome.

There's gotta be something more
Gotta be more than this
I need a little less hard time
I need a little more bliss
I'm gonna take my chances
Taking a chance I might
Find what I'm looking for
There's gotta be something more

So, take the extra time and effort now, while you’re in school, to find that “something more”.  Take a few chances in this search—get out of your comfort zone, and get off your buns, dig deep and find what you’re looking for, not what just comes your way.

• If I have multiple offers what is the CDC’s position on accepting/declining an offer?
• What are my ethical obligations to the larger Darden community and to myself?
• When is it appropriate to hold one offer and look for another?
• How does returning from an internship with an offer differ from receiving one during SY recruiting (if at all)?

Just to make sure we are all on the same page, the background for the question is something like this:  a student gets a “good” offer early in the process, but decides to continue looking, thus taking precious interview slots and possible offers from classmates, only to turn them down and take the original offer.  Perhaps another Darden student is denied the opportunity to even compete.

My answer, first of all:  see a career consultant for counseling.  We are available for confidential advice if you are struggling with any of the above questions—either as the recipient of multiple offers, or as the “runner up” in too many cases.

Secondly, these are tough questions and the answer is highly dissatisfying, “it depends.”

Each individual has to make his/her own decision based on the facts relevant to his/her individual situation.  It is difficult to know what factors a person is using to make decisions on offers.  The upside of multiple offers is that one makes an informed choice by comparing one to another.    Creating options is a reasonable motive for continuing in the process even if you have an offer.  Sometimes it is only possible to know how much you like one offer when you have another to which to compare.  You can try imagining if you had the other offer, but I have found that I cannot truly understand how well an offer fits versus another offer until I have both in hand.  So getting multiple offers is not a bad thing.

The downside is:  if you get more than one offer, you will have to turn down one.  You risk burning a bridge that you may want to cross some day.  And you may burn a bridge for the school.  At the least, you may take an opportunity away from a classmate.

But the questions are fair ones to address, so here are some principles:

1. Assume positive intent of your classmates.  Don’t be too quick to judge their motive in seeking a second offer.  Professor Bob Conroy, as head of the FY program this year, gave this piece of advice to the incoming class last week during orientation.  “We must all assume that the student in question has appropriate motives to continue.”
2. Use your life themes to make your decision.  Make your decision on which offer to accept on things that are important to you, not just superficial things that are obvious to others.  If by all outward appearances, a job is worthy of accepting, but you know it does not meet a couple of critical themes, you should continue seeking. 
3. Timing may make the “optics” worse than they really are.  Many times a student gets a great offer, but does not take it immediately because his first choice of companies will be visiting or making an offer just days or weeks later.  This timing issue forces one to sit on an offer longer than he/she really wants to.  Is this okay?  I say yes:  if your first choice is still to come, then a reasonable choice is to hold out. 
4. Never keep more than two open offers.  When the third comes along, you should immediately be able to turn down the least of the three.
5. Avoid turning down a “marginally acceptable” offer until you have another in hand.  While this may seem obvious, you don’t know what will happen, especially in this market, so be cautious.
6. Take the offer as soon as you make a decision.  Turn down others immediately upon confirmation of your acceptance (in writing).  Sounds simple, but sometimes just a few days can mean the difference between another student (especially a classmate) getting an offer.
7. Additionally, if you want to create options, be sure to create options that address a “gap” in the first offer.  Just getting another offer in the same type firm with all the same “trimmings” will just create confusion for you and animosity among your classmates.  But if you go after a second offer from a firm that addresses a gap (for example:  a different geography, a radically different culture, a different industry group), then you and your classmates will more easily distinguish why you continued seeking.
8. Don’t angle for the offer once you are certain you will turn it down.  Situation:  a student will work hard for offers from multiple companies.  The offer comes from the preferred of the two.  The student continues to seek the other, so he’ll have a choice.  My advice:  once you are certain you will take the preferred, drop from the others.  Some companies have an allocation of OFFERS, not accepts, to Darden, and your withdrawing from the process may allow another to get an offer.
9. Do unto others.  Simple principle.  Treat your classmates the way you would want them to treat you.  Think about how your decisions impact them.
10. When you return from your internship with an offer, evaluate it versus your life themes.  If it fits, take it.  Why shop around?  This is a company that test drove you for three months and still wanted to buy the car.  They love you.  They’ll high five in the halls when you call in your affirmative reply.  If you hold out and shop the offer, and respond in December the day of the deadline, they’ll be cursing your name and thinking of ways to make your start up miserable (because you made them sweat to get the answer, and put their reputation on the line).  If it doesn’t fit well, then you should have a targeted search to find the company that fills the gap in the offer you received.

But there is a counter argument.

I know first year policies of other top schools which implore students to get one offer, take that offer, and exit the process.  Rationale goes something like this:  quick acceptance of an early offer (in the first year) is a win-win-win.  It’s a win for the company.  The company feels great about the student and the school.  They have hired a great student, received a positive answer and worked with the school in a positive interaction.  It’s a win for the school.  The company is satisfied because they’ve accomplished what they set out for.  Finally, it’s a win for the student.  They have a summer with one of their target firms.  The company is pleased that they accepted.  The other firms, while not satisfied that they have lost you, have saved face by being able to make an offer to another person at your school.  And you have become even more esteemed in their minds, as another firm got you first.  Theoretically, the company will be after you next year, and also more of your classmates will have jobs.

The flaw in this argument, in my opinion, is it doesn’t reflect human nature and the need for choice in order to reinforce the correctness of a decision.  I believe it is important for us to have a choice.  It increases our confidence that the decision is the right one.  How much choice is needed is certainly up for debate.

A couple of process recommendations:

1. Be open and candid in the process, with both your classmates and your potential employers.  Help your classmates understand why you are doing what you are doing.  They’ll ask tough questions that will only help you refine your thinking.  Also, keep employers informed of what you are doing and why.  If you are continuing your search to address a gap, then perhaps they’ll be able to address the gap for you.
2. Don’t negotiate until you are ready to accept.  Don’t negotiate with more than one party.  For more information read my position paper on negotiating or watch the Negotiation multimedia module on the Darden Career Development Portal found under the Career Management/Post Offer.
   

Hope this helps.  Happy to discuss.

Relation to Careers?
Students who multitask in their career search multi-fail.  I don’t mean when they write a cover letter while analyzing a case while listening to their iPhone while driving – I mean, student who believe that they can pursue consulting as a career objective, while pursuing private equity, while pursuing investment banking as a backup are doomed to fail at all of them.  This multi-objective search approach requires multi-company lists, multi-networking, multi-interviewing leading to multi-scheduling, multi-storytelling, and multi-interviewing, in my opinion, leads to multi-failure.

The opposite of multitasking in career management - FOCUS.  Spend the first month exploring various options, but focus is necessary for success.  Develop a single –minded career objective based on a realistic assessment of your knowledge, skills, attributes, and experiences and your job search will definitely increase its chances of ending in multi-offers.