Chicago Headhunter/Job Placement Agency ? and One Random ? (Cleveland: Valentine's day, insurance)

[clevelandguy811]

Hello everyone,

I've been looking through old threads and couldn't find an answer. I am currently a 23 year old MBA student at The University of Akron. I am young for when I graduated so by the time I receive my MBA in August I will have had 2 years of work experience out of undergrad (1 working as an analyst for an insurance company, 1 working for the university).

I am a little hesitant that my business school might not get me noticed in Chicago. I understand Akron is not a marquee name but I went to this program for the price (free with my assistantship) and close vicinity to where I can stay at my parents house and avoid rent. Around Cleveland it is known that Akron is an underrated school, however I don't think putting it on my resume will get me noticed in other metro areas.

Has anyone used a job placement/headhunter to find a position when relocating to Chicago? If so could you please provide any information you may still have?

If you relocated and did not use an agency, how did you market yourself to Chicago based companies as an out of state prospective employee?

Lastly on a personal note I was hoping to have a weekend getaway to Chicago for Valentine's Day and I was wondering what were some of the top restaurants in the city.

Thanks for reading!

[chet everett]

If you have not already tried, I STRONGLY recommend using the resources of the University you attended, for those with just a couple of years of experience that is far and away the best leg up you can get.

The fact is that youth is generally NOT an advantage for many MBA positions -- if you are expected to contribute to the strategic direction of a firm your employer would much prefer a record of accomplishment in the business world. Exceptions exist in some highly technical areas, but even in finance there are few places that are going to pay MBA salary for someone that has not shown the record of good judgment that firms need.

Of course positions that are heavy on travel sometimes do go to folks that are younger, as the bias of more established folks to spend their lives on a plane or in a hotel room is a factor...

There are just too many people and too few positions for headhunters to be a viable path for junior level positions -- use the channels that result in lowest cost and greatest odds of mutual success. The obvious paths (besides the placement office) are going direct to firms in your target, hitting career fairs (including on-line / virtual...), networking, and good ol' want ads both in printed papers and on-line...

[clevelandguy811]

Thank you for your response, it is much appreciated. I anticipate and have begun to keep an eye on each firm directly. I was more or less looking for my worst case scenario so that I can have all my options on the table and I don't have to scramble at the last minute.

I am newer to my university but I have heard the career development office leaves something to be desired so that is why I am a little apprehensive about going to them but I definitely plan on finding out for myself.

[clevelandguy811]

One last thing I wanted to contribute for now. For those unfamiliar of the University of Akron I did a little research on schools near Chicago to describe comparable academic standards and it is similar to Loyola or Illinois Institute of Technology's business program.