The Crop Circle

B-School Crop Circles

I just got back from yet another business school event and just wanted to talk about the crop circle phenomenon. For those unfamiliar, crop circles are basically pools of business school students sucking up to any recruiter in site, in the hopes of securing an interview. All the big investment banks and consulting firms host events throughout the year to try and pique student interest in their firms. What starts out as an info session quickly turns into a feeding frenzy. B-school students attack each person they want to talk and elbow each other out for the privilege of talking to one of these freshly minted MBA's who managed to secure a job at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs. It's pretty sad at the end of the day. 

Positives: Usually these things have great spreads of food and drinks. Also, crop circles are a great way to meet people at the firms you are interested in and gain some valuable insights into why the firm is unique. However, they are only useful in this regards if you somehow manage to find someone who is being open and honest (there was one recruiter today who was particularly helpful). 

Negatives: Everything else. These things are huge time drains and don't really provide a way to differentiate from the pack. What ends up happening is people trying to sound smart by asking crazy weird question or boring, stereotypical questions that make me want to poke my eyes with the plastic forks I am using to eat the chicken satay they provide. Today for example, I actually got nudged out of a circle by an overly aggressive student looking to make an impression with the recruiter. In an act of great originality, he used his moment in the sun to ask what McKinsey consultants do on a day to day basis! 

The beauty of the situation is how clueless some of these students are in regards to the impressions that they are giving. People want to make friendly conversation, not be harassed by over eager MBA's. If you are sweating and stiff, I recommend you take a time out and compose yourself before elevating the volume of your voice to overshadow everyone else in the room. Yelling your credentials, faking laughs, and providing a 30 second elevator pitch is not going to win you the job. 

That brings me to another point. Elevator pitches are not appropriate for these forums! It looks canned and forced. No one wants to hear about your random consulting project where you led a team and saved the world (actually, if you save the world that would be saweet)! Crop circles have 5-10 people surrounding one person. Forcing your story into the mix makes you look like a socially inept buffoon. 

I write this with a lot of love. I probably do the same things at times (and I hate myself for it). I just think everyone needs to take a chill pill --myself included.