"I think the company feels better about giving[students] offers because they know they're ableto handle it. People who are busier have anadvantage in that they're used to being busy,answering to a variety of different bosses andworking on teams," says Mulholland.

Mulholland, a sociology concentrator, wrote athesis, directed Harvard Figure Skating, taughtaerobics and was central coordinator for the Houseand Neighborhood Development Program (HAND).

"[As an analyst], you work 90 to 100 hours perweek. Some people don't get jobs because they'renot able to convince recruiters of their abilityto do that. You have to do something that provesyou don't just sit around," Weisberg says.

Weisberg, an East Asian studies concentrator,played varsity squash and traveled in China toperform research for his thesis.

But participating in mass recruiting is not theonly way to secure a position.

Some graduating seniors obtained jobs afterapproaching firms on their own.

Mulholland says she wasn't happy with theoffers she obtained through recruiting and wasaccepted at Robertson Stephens after Harvardrecruiting was over.

"I found [recruiting] educational but a bitfrustrating because it was so time-consuming,"Mulholland says. "If I had to do it again, Iwouldn't do it again."

One student, who asked not to be identified,says he received an offer from J.P. Morgan aftercontacting the bank.

"I didn't use OCS. I just called J.P. Morganand asked for people in human resources," he says.

Officials at OCS say they encourage students tocontact firms outside of the recruiting process.

"We always encourage students to job hunt ontheir own, so that they'll have more options,"Murray says.

"There are always employers who don't come torecruit on campus. The employers who interview oncampus are a small sampling of many employers inthe industry," she adds.

Harvard's Role

Students say OCS is a helpful resource duringthe recruiting process.