EC? RC? Aldrich? What’s an Aldrich?
Every organization has their own acronyms and jargon and HBS is no exception. If you are new to recruiting at HBS let us provide an HBS to English dictionary to get you acclimated to terms you’ll see on our website and on campus.
Before we kick off the ABCs, let us introduce ourselves. We are HBS CPD – Harvard Business School Career & Professional Development.
A – Aldrich. Aldrich Hall is one of our main academic buildings where most MBA classes are held. If you are participating in an on-campus presentation it will likely be held in Aldrich Hall.
B – Base Salary. Are you curious about typical starting salaries for graduates from HBS? How about signing bonuses or other compensation? We share salary data on our website for full-time and internship roles broken out by industry, function, and location. Companies often use this data as a benchmark when putting together offer packages for students.
C – Company Conversations. You might know Company Conversations as Coffee Chats at other MBA schools. These 1:1 or small group meetings are a great way to connect with students and get to know them on a personal level. Company Conversations can be invite-only or open for any student to sign up.
D – Dedicated Interview Period. Each year in January HBS runs a Dedicated Interview Period for internship hiring. This week students do not have class and can dedicate time to interviewing. Over 100 companies come to Boston to conduct these interviews held at the DoubleTree Hotel.
E – EC. EC stands for Elective Curriculum and represents students who are in their second year of the MBA program. In the second year, students can “elect” the classes they would like to take and customize their academic experience.
F – Field Global Immersion (FGI). First-year students participate in a Global Immersion at the end of the second semester. They travel all over the world participating in short-term consulting projects that add value to our global company partners and help students build skills in teamwork, international business, leadership, and market analysis.
G – GO: Africa. Beginning with the MBA Class of 2018, HBS offers a Global Opportunity Fellowship (GO: Africa) to supplement the income of MBA graduates who go on to work in Africa following graduation. The aim is to support HBS graduates who want to make a difference in emerging markets and assist in attracting top talent to Africa and expand the School’s global impact.
H – HBS Clubs. There are over 50 HBS Student Clubs on campus, many of which are focused on career development. Connecting with a student club is a great way to advertise your job opportunities or events to a targeted group of students specifically interested in your industry/function/location.
I – Industry Education. Industry Education presentations are non-recruiting educational events open to both first year and second year students. Come to campus to talk about a recent deal, an industry trend, or a case study on how your company made an important business decision.
J – Job Search Days. Throughout the semester, students have days free from class that they can devote to recruiting called Job Search Days. Companies are encouraged to use these days for interviews to avoid the complication of scheduling interviews around class time on other days.
K – Klarman Hall. Klarman is our newest building on campus and the largest auditorium space seating up to 1,000 audience members.
L – Leadership Fellows. The Leadership Fellows program offers nonprofit and public-sector organizations the opportunity to leverage the experience, energy, and analytical skills of MBAs for one year. More information on the application process is available on our website.
M – MS/MBA. The MS/MBA is the newest Harvard Business School joint degree program offered in collaboration with the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. We also offer joint degree programs with the Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Medical School.
N – No missed class policy. Students at HBS are required to attend all classes and cannot miss class for recruiting. That is why as part of our recruiting policies we require recruiting partners to offer two interview dates for interviews that do not conflict with class-time.
O – OCI (On-Campus Interviews). If you would like HBS to help you coordinate logistics for interviews, request a date for On-Campus Interviews in our recruiting platform. We’ll handle booking space, a hospitality suite for your interviewers, and scheduling students into timeslots.
P – Presentation. Other MBA programs may call company presentations briefings or info sessions. At HBS we refer to any company session that is one to many, located in a classroom or off-campus, as a company presentation. Request your preferred date through our recruiting platform.
Q – QR codes. If you are here for a company presentation, you might notice that students are bringing their cell phones up to the CPD staff member before the presentation begins. We are scanning each student’s unique QR code in order to update your attendance list in our recruiting platform. You can use your attendance list to follow up after events.
R – RC. RC stands for Required Curriculum and represents students who are in the first year of the MBA program. In the first year, students stay with the same group of 90 students (their section) through all of the required classes.
S – Spangler. The Spangler Center is the first building you’ll see on campus when you park. It houses our dining hall, many administrative offices, and breakout rooms for students and companies. If you are holding on-campus interviews or company conversations, they will likely be held in Spangler.
T – Targeted Events. Target your event to a specific subset of students by holding an invitation only dinner or reception. You can invite individual students to these events by finding them in the resume database.
U – Undergraduate students. While some business schools have undergraduate and graduate programs, HBS offers programs only for graduate and Executive Education level students. If you are seeking to recruit undergraduate students, contact the Office of Career Services at Harvard College.
V – Video Conference. Our office has two video conference rooms available for interviews. If you are interested in interviewing students remotely, you can utilize our video conference tools to host virtual interviews. Contact your designated Recruiting Relations Manager for more information.
W – Wilder House. CPD is located in Wilder House on the HBS campus. If you are meeting with a CPD staff member while you are on campus, you may be visiting our little house at the edge of campus by the Charles River.
X – eXtra Stuff. We completely understand that you want to build your brand on campus and sending swag feels like a good strategy. However, we often find that presentation leave behinds like water bottles or keychains aren’t that effective. Our advice? Your message is more important than the items you bring to campus. Focus on company culture and the job opportunities and don’t worry about filling student mailboxes.
Y – Y Days. Second year students have a varied class schedule as they each choose their own classes. There are X Days and Y Days on the calendar that indicate which class sessions are scheduled for that day. You won’t need to worry about this when scheduling events, but it’s a term you may hear from students.
Z – Zoom. Zoom is a web based tool for remote interviews, presentations, or company conversations. Every HBS student has a personal account to use for group or 1:1 video conference sessions. While our students are comfortable with a multitude of platforms, you may want to give this one a shot if you haven’t done much with virtual yet.
