After The MBA

Is The Job Market Improving?

My apologies for my blogging hiatus but I have been devoting more time to writing cover letters over blog posts. I love blogging but I really need to get a job so that I don’t become the first Cornell MBA to become homeless.

Because I am usually the token-unemployed person in social settings, people tend to ask me if I think the job market is improving. Well, it is easy to say that the economy is improving simply because the stock market has bounced back and there aren’t massive corporate bankruptcies anymore. However, recent data from the Labor Department showed that in 371 out of 372 metro areas, the jobless rate went up in December 2009 from  a year earlier. But what does the government know? Perhaps a better indicator of an improving job market is the number of job postings on Doostang! (Yes, I am still paying for Doostang despite the fact that I have gotten ZERO interviews from using it.)

So according to the Doostang Help Wanted Index, the job market was off to a slow start in 2010 but in the past week, hiring has begun to pick up. 

Those statistics sounds great until you realize that there are still a boatload of unemployed people out there. For example, I went to a job fair in Oakland the other week and there was a line wrapped around the block. As I approached the venue, I was hoping that some company was having a fire drill but to my dismay, it was just a crowd of job seekers just like me.

UC Santa Barbara & Elephant Seals

Happy New Year everyone! I took a weekend trip down to Santa Barbara over New Year’s weekend and had the chance to check out UC Santa Barbara. One crazy thing about UC Santa Barbara is that everyone travels by bicycle. There were so many bicycles that I thought that I was in China (well, at least China in the 1980s before cars got so mainstream).

             

On the drive back to San Francisco, I saw a kid (at Pismo Beach) trying to pet a pelican (his friends egged him on). This was my cue to whip out my camera in case the pelican decided to try to eat the kid.  I don’t know a lot about pelicans but I know enough that they don’t like people petting them. Lucky for the kid, the pelican did not try to eat him in retaliation for being harassed.

Also on the drive back to SF, I saw one of the coolest things that I have seen in a long time: ELEPHANT SEALS! These animals are HUGE! Apparently the bulls can grow up to 16 feet long and weigh 6,000 lbs. So if you are ever driving up the Central California coast, make sure you stop by San Simeon and check them out.

And as you probably guessed, my New Year’s resolution is to find a job!

California: The Worst Place to Look For a Job

If you are looking for a job, DON’T come to California unless you absolutely must have good weather and the best selection of fresh produce. It has been 6 months since I graduated with my MBA from Cornell University and I find myself still looking for a job. I will admit that things have been more challenging than I had originally anticipated and I think a major factor is because of my unwavering desire to live in San Francisco.

California, with a jobless rate of 12.3%, is tied for the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the country. However, once you factor in total population, California kicks everyone else’s butt in terms of number of unemployed people living in the state. There are more jobless bums (roughly 4.5 million) living in California than there are total people living in the state of South Carolina. Ultimately, this means that the amount of competition that I am facing for new jobs is that much more intense than anywhere else in the country.

All you 2010 MBAs who are still unemployed at graduation:  take heed and choose wisely when you decide where you want to live after B-school. Many companies right now will not consider you if you are out-of-state because they don’t want to pay for relocation. And as you can see, there is a huge variance in unemployment across the country. If I could do it again, I still would have moved to San Francisco because the avocados and tomatoes alone make it all worthwhile.

Federal Student Loans: Not A Very Good Deal

The first week of December signals two important events:

        1.)  The holiday season is just around the corner.

        2.)  Repayment of my student loans from B-school begins.

What bugs me about my Federal Direct student loans is the fact that they are accruing interest at a fixed rate of 6.80%. (My total rate is actually higher because a significant portion of my loans are Federal Direct PLUS loans, which accrue at 7.65%.) The prime rate, which is the lending rate for the most credit worthy customers, is only 3.25%. (And yes I have great credit!) Somehow I get the feeling that I am getting a raw deal on my Federal student loans. Isn’t the government supposed to be helping me finance my education and not trying to massively profit off of it? Even the 30-year fixed mortgage rate (national average) is slightly less than 5.00%! WTH?  Even Tony Soprano would be impressed by such loan sharking.

And to make matters worse, I missed the deadline to apply for a loan deferment (I don’t have a job yet), which was on November 15^th. All you 2010 grads who are still unemployed a year from now, make sure you remember to apply for deferment more than 1-month ahead of your first payment! On the bright side, you can apply for deferment at anytime during your repayment so I will just have to make my first payment before getting my loans deferred. Loan deferment is helpful because it allows you to delay repayment and you do not accrue any interest on the subsidized portion of your Federal loans.

If I was smart, I would have taken out a mortgage in the same amount of my student loans, sold the house immediately for the same price that I bought it  (somewhat risky assumption), and used the proceeds to pay off my Federal student loans. Essentially I would be swapping my 6.80+% student loan rate for the 5.00% mortgage rate. Even after broker and origination fees, I feel confident that I would still have come out on top.

New Moon – Old Double Standard

 

Over the past two weeks, it has come to my attention that many women (friends and girlfriends of friends) are swooning over the movie, New Moon, the latest film adaption of the Twilight Saga. These aren’t teenage schoolgirls declaring their allegiance between Team Jacob or Team Edward but women who are in well into their 20s and 30s (and even 40s). So what is the problem you ask? Well, Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob the shirtless wolfboy, is only 17 years old (jailbait). Robert Pattinson, who plays the emo vampire boyfriend, is currently 23 years old (but was only 21 in the first movie). Both actors portray fictional characters that are in high school. So where is the outrage when women who are 30 or 40 years old, lust over the young and innocent Jacob and Edward?  

Back in business school, the male population would always get ostracized by their female classmates for hooking up with undergrads at college town bars. Even outside of business school, if a 30-year old guy tries to pick up a 21-year old female, he will undoubtedly be accused of being a child molester and lacking basic morals and hygiene. How come when a 30-year old woman dates a 21-year old male, she is labeled a cougar (or cougar in training) but when the genders are reversed, the man is labeled a pedophile? Perhaps this double standard was created and perpetuated by women in order to prevent competition from younger women while also allowing all women to have the option of dating younger men as they grow older (women can be cunning like that). 

During its opening weekend, New Moon distributor Summit Entertainment's exit polling indicated that 80 percent of the audience was female and 50 percent was under 21 years old. Therefore, if you extrapolate the population data, it can be inferred that 50 percent of the audience was potentially pedophiles, 80 percent of whom, were females.  

Ivy League Young Alum Mixer = Meat Market

If you have ever wanted to fulfill your dreams of dating a nice Harvard boy/girl, then I highly recommend that you attend an Ivy League Young Alum Mixer. I don’t know if other cities have these mixers so if you are out of luck in Boston or NYC, then add it to the list of reasons why you should move to SF.

I loved the event description that was posted online:

“Whether you're interested in networking, reuniting with old classmates, or simply kicking back with friends over a glass of wine - the Ivy League Young Alum Mixer is sure to offer a great time for all.”

I don’t recall seeing much “networking” unless the phrase now means “looking for someone to hook up with”. I guess this definition of “networking” makes sense. After all, B-school was all about networking right? And there was plenty of networking going on. Maybe I should have been networking more during the past 2 years.

And while you might not necessarily find the most attractive mates at these mixers, at least you can guarantee that your offspring will have a higher probability of getting into an Ivy League institution. (Not because of a smarter gene pool or anything but simply because of two alumni legacy cards that can be played)    

No Ivy League Mixer would be complete without a bar and pool table! Check out the pics:

          

Halloween Costume Fail: Freddie Mercury

I am a firm believer in avoiding store-bought costumes and aiming for creativity. Therefore, I thought I was a genius when I came up with my super awesome Halloween costume idea— Freddie Mercury (the lead singer of Queen). I knew that many people, especially those in the younger generation, would not get my costume because Queen was big in the 80s and early 90s. Apparently I underestimated the popularity of Queen amongst my fellow San Franciscans, young or old, because ZERO people guessed my costume correctly. In fact, most people had no idea who Freddie Mercury was and many others had never even heard of Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody? Hello?). And to add salt to the wounds, about a quarter of the people that I had polled guessed incorrectly that I was William Hung! He doesn’t even have a mustache! What the heck is up with that?

And how do so many people know William Hung but so few people know Queen?

DOOSTANG: Is it worth the money?

Current and recent MBAs are probably familiar with the career website, Doostang.com, thanks to recommendations about it from their respective career management centers. It is similar to other job posting sites like hotjobs.com or indeed.com in terms of functionality. The biggest difference is that you have to pay a subscription fee in order to utilize their job postings. I’m not sure how Doostang is really “exclusive” other than that it separates those who are willing and able to pay from those who are not. Cornell MBAs get a special subscription rate of $75 for three months. I’m not sure what other people have to pay. Maybe those HBS kids get it for free or maybe they pay the same rate.

My main complaint about Doostang is that they don’t post enough jobs. Keep in mind, if Doostang posts 25 new jobs, there will probably be only 1 or 2 jobs at most that fit a particular candidate’s interests and background (or maybe none at all).

I did a quick comparison between the number of daily postings over the course of one week on Doostang and Craigslist to illustrate my complaint. Keep in mind that Craigslist is a normal way to find roommates and jobs in SF and that it isn’t seen as a freak show online forum like in other major cities.

 

Final Verdict: Although quantity does not necessarily equate to quality, I personally think Craigslist is better for finding jobs in the Bay Area than Doostang, especially considering it is FREE. My 3-month subscription to Doostang came up for renewal a few days ago so what did I do? I renewed it of course! Because what is a mere $75 compared to the $140K that I invested in my MBA? Good thing B-school taught me to have a big picture perspective!

I Can’t Wear (Cornell) Red In My Neighborhood

About a month ago, three people were shot and killed in two separate incidents in the Mission district of San Francisco, which happens to be the same neighborhood where I live. These shootings were related to gang violence between rival factions of the Norteños, a Latino gang based in Northern California. Apparently, the Norteños' gang color is RED, so anyone wearing red could be mistaken for a gang member. Living in a neighborhood like the Mission, where there is significant gang activity, increases the likelihood of mistaken identity if you are wearing gang colors. In the ensuing weeks, I tried not to wear anything red, especially in the evenings, because I didn’t want to get shot or stabbed.

Other people thought I was paranoid but then guess what happened last week? Some guy wearing RED SNEAKERS was mistaken as a gang member and beaten on a Muni bus in the middle of the day (google “Christopher Borgzinner” if you don’t believe me). I was talking to my friend Kandea about how we can’t wear our Cornell gear in my neighborhood and then a good point was brought up, “Why do gangs choose all the best colors?” In some neighborhoods you can’t wear blue; in others you can’t wear red. I’m sure some combination of white and black are probably taken too. Why can’t gangs ever choose less mainstream colors like magenta or viridian? In doing so, gang members create a unique identity and brand for themselves and they don’t have to deal with the hassle of trying to figure out if someone is a gang member or not. And for us innocent folks, we don’t have to deal with the inconvenience of not being able to wear some of our favorite clothes. Organized crime could certainly benefit from a few courses in marketing.

I think I smell a potential consulting project for some first-year MBAs looking to bolster their resume with brand management experience!

Weddings Are Like Goodbye Parties

 

I just spent the past weekend attending the wedding of one of my best friends from high school. Although it was supposed to be a day of celebration, I felt a little sad that my buddy was getting married because I knew that this was in many ways, a goodbye party. Most guys joke that getting married is like getting a life sentence to prison and that you will never see your friends again except when you are allowed out of the house for special occasions such as the Super Bowl or if you are in the dog house and not allowed home until you apologize and have learned your lesson (*tip* always admit you were wrong, even if you were right).

My buddy looked really happy throughout most of the wedding and he isn’t very good at hiding his feelings so he truly must have been happy. This perplexed me. I thought about the prison analogy during the reception and then I realized maybe he was happy to be getting married because he was getting OUT of, and NOT GOING INTO prison, and it was us bachelors who were still stuck on the inside. My mix of elation and sadness is how Red must have felt when he discovered that his pal Andy had ecaped from Shawshank.

This refined analogy seems much more fitting. Most people tend to be happier to get out of prison but it also depends on what sort of life (or wife) awaits you on the outside and in many cases, life is better in prison for some guys. Similar to married life, living in the free world involves a great deal of responsibility and sacrifice. Some guys would rather live the single life: less responsibilities to manage, fewer sacrifices to be made, hanging out with the boys all day, playing ball and working out, which essentially is the same as prison life. It all makes sense now!

I can't believe I debunked the prison theory of marriage.....alcohol is a hell of a drug.