They may need regular Facebook fixes and are literally joined
at the hip to their smart phones, but some MIT Sloan School of
Management MBAs see big added value in using the good old-fashioned
personal touch as they embark on job-hunting, network-building Tech
Treks to Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Boston this month. Social
networks facilitate connections, but when deciding where you may
begin your career, theres no replacement for face-to-face meetings
and conversations, said Michael Smouha, a native of Montreal who
will join about 30 classmates on this weeks Trek to Silicon Valley
to meet with MIT Sloan alumni and officials at firms such as eBay,
Intel, LinkedIn, Symantec, Facebook, and Google. Other MBA Sloan
students will visit technology and other companies in the Boston
and Seattle areas during the January Treks that have become an
annual MIT Sloan event. Although a simple contact can be gained
from an online search or a social media connection, the connections
that we make during our treks have the potential to be much more
powerful, said Margaret Draughon, who grew up in Milwaukee and is
participating in all three trips. Its a way to meet people in the
industry and have a chance to hear their perspective on the roles
or companies first hand. Most importantly, our trek gives the
participants the chance to see these cities and companies in person
and attempt to answer the question, Do I fit here? While todays
employers assume that job applicants are fully savvy in social
media, they are also increasingly looking for people who are
comfortable with ambiguity and who can navigate through ups and
downs, said Konstantina Georgaki, who is from Greece and is
participating in the Boston trek, which will include stops at
companies such as Nokia, Zipcar, and Akamai. Being technologically
savvy is almost a given, so firms are now looking for more evidence
of creativity and innovation. The question is not if you can follow
the curve, but if you can invent the next one. Would-be employers
are also seeking changing skill sets, said Boston-native Kousha
Bautista-Saeyan, who is joining the Trek in Boston, which is a
hotbed for lots of startups. The business landscape always evolves.
Where tech is concerned, big data and analytics seem like the next
big trends. The more versed job-seekers are in those skills, the
more luck they may have on the job market. That job market may also
be improving, said several Trekkers. While economic recovery may
still be a ways off, recruitment on campus is back to previous
levels, said Bautista-Saeyan. Im confident that we will all find
jobs as long as we put the effort in to get what we want. For
Smouha, who co-founded a pop culture portal called Velvetpanda at
the age of 16, the Treks offer ways to learn not only about
employers, but places. I want to find out what the culture is like
in a tech hub such as Silicon Valley, and whether I can see myself
living there for the long haul. But for someone with little
exposure to big tech, it seems like Google is Nirvana for the
creative, entrepreneurial type. Any company that produces
self-driving cars is one I need to seriously consider as a career
choice. While the Trekkers will visit major players such as Google,
they will also meet MIT Sloan alumni and others at lesser-known
companies and in different business sectors. I feel that in a short
span of time I will get exposure to everything from gaming and
e-commerce to cloud computing and enterprise services, said
Draughon.
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