Fall Recruitment (CM & CRT)

Kate learns about upcoming recruitment opportunities with Amanda from the CRT and Top Tips for preparation with Melissa from the Coaching team. 

What is Ivey Career Management?

The Ivey Career Management Podcast shares practical career advice, alumni insights, and expert perspectives to help Ivey students and graduates navigate their careers with confidence.

[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.]
Welcome to the Career Management Podcast at Ivey Business School.

We're excited to bring you stories and strategies from students, special guests, and the career management team.

Make yourself comfortable and let's get started.

On today's episode, we're talking about how you can prepare to make the most of your recruitment season this fall at Ivey.

I'm joined by Amanda from the Corporate Recruitment Team, or CRT for short,

who's going to share details on what you can expect and how to find events that are of interest to you.

Then we'll speak with Melissa from Career Management about top tips from career coaches.

Amanda, thank you for joining me. Thanks for having me, Kate. Um, September is an exciting time.

You know, it's the start of classes, return to cases, 24 hour reports,

but it also signals the official start of the cohort recruiting season for our Ivey students,

those students who are looking for summer internships and full time opportunities in 2025.

Our recruiting partners are eager to connect with students, and we have planned a great mix of events and activities to meet the needs of

firms and students for both full time and summer internship opportunities.

Okay, two questions for you. One: Tell me more about summer intern recruitment and two, is it different for each cohort?

Yeah. Great question. There are definitely some differences by cohort.

So let's start with summer. Uh for our HBA one and MSc BA students, summer internships are a great way to explore careers, test drive your skills,

and really ultimately to inform your decision making to decide if you're interested in an industry or a company

longer term, when you think about post-grad opportunities. For our recruiting partners,

this is their first chance to get in front of you and showcase who they are,

what they do, and really to tell you why you might be interested in an internship with them.

So you'll have the chance to attend a lot of events and activities that have been

designed to give you the information you need to inform your recruiting strategy.

Okay, like what type of events are we talking about? Yeah, firm hosted events are popular during the summer

intern hiring cycle. September through November is really a peak period for this type of engagement,

which is often formatted, as, you know, a 90 minute session,

typically including a company presentation or maybe a panel discussion about the firm, its culture,

and the roles that they'll be hiring for and often followed by, uh, larger group networking activities.

You'll see that each day you're available, there'll be two information session time slots offered always outside of class time,

you know, late afternoon into the early evening.

Each firm will decide if they're looking to connect with HBA and or MSc BA students based on their hiring needs.

For example, you know, if the role includes a focus on data analytics, then MSc BA students will often be included in in the event or the activity.

Okay. And are there any other events those students should know about?

Yeah. In September/November you'll have the chance to attend Ivey Career Nights, which are multi firm,

multi industry networking activities designed to connect you with a variety of firms in a short period of time.

They will also be offered for full time recruitment. So I'll talk a bit more about them in a minute.

Okay. And knowing that that's HBA1 and MSc BA,

what about our MSc DM and IB students? Yeah that's a great question.

So these two streams have slightly different needs.

The BA cohort requires students to source an internship as part of their academic progression,

whereas DM and IB cohorts have employers source for them as part of their Digital Innovation Studio or Ivey Global Lab.

So this means that they don't have to focus on finding an organization to work with next summer on their own.

The MSc programs team is going to help with that. That said, you know, as our corporate recruiting team finds opportunities, you know,

events and employers that are aligned more with DM and IB timelines, we'll share them with the cohort.

Uh, so these groups will have plenty of ways to engage in definitely next year when we get to full time recruiting for the two.

Okay. How about full time recruitment? Yes.

So for our current MBA students and our returning HBA and MSc students, there will also be a lot of activities and ways to engage.

But given that you've likely had the chance to participate in summer internship recruiting before,

how you'll engage is going to look a little bit different. I think this year,

the thing our team is most excited about is that our partners are moving away from firm hosted information sessions for full time recruiting.

And why is that? Again, great question.

So feedback from students and from firm reps is that while information sessions work for summer internship hiring,

when you know students are fresh and trying to get information,

the 90 minute information session structure isn't really that effective for full time recruiting.

These student groups are further along in their recruiting journey,

and they're often looking for a more personal or even intentional way to connect and engage.

What can these students expect from from this switch?

Yeah, definitely. Lots of coffee chats. One on one engagement is great.

Firms love to engage with students looking for full time roles this way because it allows them to dig

deeper into the candidate profile and really assess if you'll be a good fit for the company and the role.

Um. Okay. Um, let's circle back to these Ivey career nights.

Students have already been asking about these, so please tell us more about Ivey career nights.

Yeah, again, we're really excited about that. And I know I touched on it briefly when we were talking about summer intern recruiting.

So let's give them a little bit more space.

Um, so what you're going to see is about 40 recruiting partners representing multiple industries for these events in the first two weeks of September.

So you'll see you have September 4th and 5th, which will be exclusively for our students looking for full time 2025 roles.

And then September 9th and 10th will be open to all students.

So whether you're looking for a full time role or a summer internship opportunity, those will be the nights.

September timing means that those who will be participating in these four activities will post an interview,

uh, and make offers in the fall time frame. So that's part of that cohort process.

And then as we look beyond September, we'll be hosting combined summer and full time career nights on November 4th and 5th.

So these will be for firms that are recruiting a little later in the season.

Um, our team is working with those companies right now to confirm their participation, but the format's going to be the same.

It'll be multi firm, multi industry. In your opinion, what's the best thing about these events?

Yeah. Great question.

So beside the fact that these events take place here at Ivey in London, um, and that all of these firms are coming directly to you as students,

I think the best thing about these is that they really allow students to meet with a lot of firms from a lot of industries in a short burst of time.

It's a great use of your time, especially because you know you're balancing so much.

You've got school, you've got social activities, you've got recruiting, maybe clubs.

Um, so it's really sort of a one stop shop for everything. Um, they really are balancing a lot.

Um, okay. How can students learn more about the Ivey Career Nights?

Perfect. Yes. All career nights are live on 1220. Just in the search tab.

Go Ivey career night and details will pop up. Uh, important note each event description will include the current list of firms attending,

uh, followed by the student groups that they're looking to connect with.

But as I said, we're still continuing to confirm.

Um, and so be sure to check back and make sure that you're keeping an eye out on those event descriptions.

All right. What else should students know? Yeah.

Regardless of whether or not you're looking for a summer internship or a full time role, you'll see a lot of activity on the 1220 career portal.

As firms book their activities, new events will be added. Um, be sure to set up alerts and keep an eye on the announcements section of the homepage.

So there's a tile right at the top says announcements. Um, so that you don't miss out.

We'll be adding details there. It's a good place to look. And don't forget about postings.

All of our recruiting partners will advertise their full time and summer intern roles on the 1220 platform,

but you'll still want to search for opportunities beyond that.

So places like LinkedIn and other job boards and company websites, um, you really want to make sure that you're keeping it open.

Okay. So 1220 is a great place to start. But keep that search broad.

You got it. That's right. Okay. Anything else, Amanda that students should know about?

Absolutely. I always like to take an opportunity to remind students, if you haven't already checked it out,

we've got this recruiting video that is on your LEARN resource page.

Um, and it gives you an overview of how Ivey recruiting will unfold.

So it'll tell you when particular industries are coming, um, and what you can expect.

And that's for all programs. It doesn't matter if you're looking for a summer internship or full time job,

it's a great resource to be able to understand when different industries will be engaging with students for the purposes of recruiting.

Amanda, thank you so much for bringing the CRT, the corporate recruitment team, uh, updates and information to our students.

Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me, Kate. Good luck everyone. Melissa, thank you so much for speaking with me today.

Thanks for having me. What are the top tips career coaches have for students attending these events?

Okay, I have two that I want to share. The first is "be intentional."

Before the event, do your research. Look at the companies that are listed as attending and identify a few that you want to prioritize.

Think about what you want to learn, whether or not it's opportunities they have,

upcoming areas of business that they're in, or even more about them as a firm.

And then once you've done that, come up with a few tailored questions that you can ask them.

The second is to "stay organized". After each event, find a quiet spot,

jot down a few notes. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and forget details, so give yourself some space to organize your thoughts.

You can always refine your notes later. These will be particularly helpful when you go to send thank you notes,

whether or not that be that evening or even the following day, or future engagement you have with them.

I know I'm really bad for that; thinking I'll remember something and then you forget to do it the next day,

and then a month later you have no recollection. So that's a great tip.

Guilty. What do you think the benefit of an event like Ivey Career Night is compared to separate firm hosted events or info sessions?

I think they each have their unique benefits and drawbacks. One of the biggest advantages for an event like this is that you are in the driver's seat.

You can explore multiple firms.

You can have a lot of conversations with different people, and it's really great, especially if you're exploring careers at this time.

You can ask whatever questions you need. You can determine how much time you want to spend exploring each industry or firm.

You are ultimately in the driver's seat. So a lot more ownership that students can take on this and really make it what they want to.

Absolutely. Okay. Well, we are wishing all the best to everyone attending Ivey Career Nights.

Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions. And Melissa, thank you again for joining me today.

Thanks for having me. Thank you for listening.

If you are interested in connecting with career management,

you can book a one on one appointment by visiting the 1220 appointments tab online or by visiting our space at room

2235 in the Ivey Building at Western University.

Take good care.