Ｐｉｒａｎｈａｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ Ｊｏｂ Ｐｏｏｌ 職場水虎魚

Tatigued， Laura fell on my futon and threw up her feet， showcasingher $200 Manolo flats. These flats are symbolic of a time of high stress and high pressure. It was war in the land of portfolios， sharp-toed shoes， designer suits， and snazzy ties. In other words， Kat meets JobSearch.

However， this was no ordinary job search. This was at a college-levelwith hungry college students， very desperate college souls looking for lifeafter the Stanford Bubble4. What appears to be a cool， frisbee-throwing，sunny-side up atmosphere is only the surface of a boiling， competitivecauldron of sharp-witted and sharply organized students..， competingamongst each other.

Starting wage figures averaging from $60，000 to $100，000 dangled infront of these driven students like cake to a five-year-old Now， a senior， Iwas jostled7 into the same stream. Even though law school has always beenin the mix of my life plans， I was now considering on a few years off bygathering some work experience. Why not try my hand at consulting?

Consulting and investment banking. For some， these words provokeimages of fire and brimstone? It means long hours， frequent business tripsand presentations， high stress environments， and little to no sleep. For somecollege students， working at Bain Company， Boston Consulting Group(BCG)， McKinsey Company， Goldman Sachs， or Morgan Stanley wouldbe a dream come true， despite the horrors， at Stanford， the months fromSeptember to mid-November means recruiting. Companies pinpointcolleges throughout the nation to find their next associates. They makepresentations， glorifying their work and potential benefits. They wine and

dine them， blitzing them with images of glamour and glitz. The firststep， for the student， was to get an interview. The second step--do well inthe interviews. The third step，sign the papers.

I thought to myself..， how hard could it be?

Unfortunately the work that goes into landing a consulting job reallytakes months of practice. Using Laura as an example， here is a simplifiedversion of the steps:

Junior Year:

--Look for consulting/investment bank related internships.

--reStart practicing case interviews and keep up with current news.

--Create or brush up the resume.

--Design a cover letter template.

--Land an internship; do well in said internship and try to makeconnections (this internship might eventually turn out to be a job offer).

Senior Year:

--Review case interviews; practice with friends and peers.

--Perfect the resume and the cover letter.

--Go to presentations and network with company employees.

--Go to company dinners and network some more.

--Ask for business cards and follow-up later with thank you E-mails.

--Drop resume and cover letter to Stanford's Career Development Center andthe companies.

--Wait for news on interviews.

--Do well on the first round interview (send out thank you E-mails right afterinterview).

--Wait for， hopefully， good news， anticipating for second and third roundinterviews.

While it might seem straightforward， the entire process opened up a wholenew world for me. The job market was no candy land. I was up against peers withbetter GPAs and even better resumes. Some students were practicing for their lastthree years to get that perfect finance job. I， happy-go-lucky as ever， stumbled intomy suit Three problems emerged quickly. First， I never formally learned theetiquette of networking. Second， I did not know how to iron a shirt. Third， I knewnothing about consulting except that it paid well and it looked interesting.

I shivered with horror on entering the room of Bain Company's On-CampusPresentation. Many... many of my peers were mingling around the food table. Perfectlygroomed and outfitted， each student hungrily vied for a Consultant's attention. Theynudged each other out of the conversation or shot bullets of question. \"Maybe if theConsultant or Recruiter remembers my name， I might have a better shot at aninterview.\" so the thinking went.

I felt like a clownfish23 in a pool of piranhas. Out of place， I kept close to myfriend， Laura who charismatically and firmly introduced herself and asked theperfect questions. She was the epitome of the future associate.

The presentation itself was a mixture of high-tech and deep tradition.Techno raging in the background， the PowerPoint slide depicted a fast-pacedand quickly rewarding job. Consulting， at least， allowed you to work with arange of industries and participate in first-hand challenges facing small andlarge corporations in dealing with efficiency and productivity. I felt adrenalinerushing in my veins as each slide gave me another jolt of desire.

\"Propaganda\" one friend called it. It really did work. After thepresentation， I was compelled to give my soul to Bain Company. However，the entire room gave off that same energy. When the recruiter asked people tostay and chat with the representatives， all of the students seemed to jump upand make a beeline towards the reps. Quickly， little pods were formed.

I tried to come up with an awesome question. To my dismay， myrepresentative first couldn't hear me over the chatter of the room and thencouldn't understand my question. I left the presentation with red cheeks and asad sigh.

For many of my college years， I thought little of getting a job. In anacademic atmosphere， it was easy to get lost in books and papers. The realworld started pounding on the front gate too soon and too quickly. Seeing myfriends dive into the recruiting process， I wanted to do the same. The chaoswas appealing， the suits and the leather portfolios. I craved the professionalism and the prestige I wanted to prove to myself that I could be like those hardcore Lauras in the world， to take a challenge head on. 1 did mybest to craft my resume and my cover letter. I tried to network. I left my comfort zone.

Here in San Francisco， it is 3:00AM. I am waiting for a reply from the major firms. Will I get a first round interview? The question swims in my head. Can this clownfish be more than just a fish? If I try hard enough， can I transform into a whale? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

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