Recruiting has long been a staple of the average senior's spring. If recent trends continue, it may well be pushed back into the fall.

Although recruiting of seniors interested in business jobs does not begin officially until late January, several investment banking firms have jumped the gun and started interviewing--and even hiring--this fall.

The recruiting process itself is organized by the Office of Career Services and involves as much as 45 percent of the senior class, according to Marc Cosentino, assistant director of the Office of Career Services.

Early recruiting happens in part because of the expiring job offers some seniors have with firms due to their previous summer employment.

"I know 20 to 30 students who have 'exploding' job offers which are only good until January 1," Cosentino said.

Students who have exploding offers use them as leverage with other firms to get interviews before normal recruiting begins, he said.

"It's not a process we can restrict, nor do we want to," Cosentino said. "It's difficult to know how many people might be working outside the system."

Jee Park, a recruiting coordinator for Morgan Stanley, said she knows that some Harvard seniors with experience in her firm have been offered positions.

Other than those, Park said, Morgan Stanley strictly follows the school's recruiting guidelines.

"We support the process and its attempt to nurture fair competition," she said.

At the same time, Park said she was aware that other firms were participating in early recruiting, pointing to competitors Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.

The potential for problems in early recruiting seems obvious to some.

"The more spots filled prior to recruiting, the fewer available to those of us who go through the normal process," said one senior who asked to remain anonymous.

Others, however, said they didn't feel threatened by their fellow students' early start.

"I know a couple of firms who are recruiting this fall," said Lawrence T. Huynh '97, who plans to go through recruiting. "But I don't think it will hurt people who wait. If you're going to get an offer, you'll still get it, even if you wait.