COULD IT BE MORE PLEASANT?

Although many students acknowledge that the on-campus interview program has made recruiting more accessible, they still hope the process could be less stressful.

Misra suggested that the program should have stricter rules on interview scheduling after he was given very short notice before some of his second-round interviews. Once, he finished a first-round interview at 4:40 p.m., and the interviewer called him immediately after to schedule a second-round interview at 5:30 p.m.

The Office of Career Services requires that employers give students at least 72 hours of notice for second-round interviews outside Cambridge, but there is no restriction on scheduling interviews locally.

“It was really not convenient academically. Stuff like this is not fair to the students because we are really doing our best to kind of juggle our schedules around,” Misra says.

In addition, students are sometimes given too little time to decide whether to accept an offer, some say. That is in spite of the OCS policy granting students until either March 4 or three weeks after the date of offer—whichever comes later—to decide.

Misra, for example, says he was once given only two days to make a decision on an offer.

Deborah A. Carroll, director of the on-campus interview program at OCS, acknowledges the existence of the problem and urges students to speak to the office about it.

“Our message is that we need to know in order to help anyone through it, and we won’t call an employer without a student’s permission unless we heard from many students.” Carroll says.

Carroll suggests that in such situations, one thing students can do is “play a little dumb”.

“To say, you know, ‘Thank you so much for the opportunity, and I’m so excited about it. But I just have a question—I was under the impression that I was going to have March 4th to make a decision?’”

“That very initial, very benign statement can often set in place everything that would rectify the situation.” Carroll adds.

To better coordinate academics and recruiting, students also suggested moving the process into January, during the College’s winter break. According to Carroll, OCS has considered this option, but it is difficult to make a quick adjustment given that the new schedule has only been in effect for two years.

As for students’ concern with social life and the environment of competition, Carroll says OCS has been contemplating a workshop which would allow students to come together and feel more sense of community. Carroll stresses that students are not in as direct a competition as they think they are.

“The hiring process is much more about fit than about number. It’s much more comparable to dating—both parties need to like each other and they both need to feel the chemistry.” Carroll says.

Despite its drawbacks, many students still relish the experience.

“[Recruiting] is obviously doable, but it’s definitely crazier than a typical Harvard life.” Misra says.

—Staff writer Heng Shao can be reached at shao@college.harvard.edu.