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I AM A GRADUATING M.B.A. and
I’m looking for a job. What will become of me and my bright-eyed
colleagues? Once upon a time, great job offers piled up like loose change:
as soon as we got rid of some, more would come in. And that wasn’t even
the best of it. If we didn’t want to work for someone else, it seemed
relatively easy for us to raise millions in venture capital, hire a bunch
of people and launch an IPO. No more. In Silicon Valley these days, you
can’t even give away barely-used office furniture to charity—the
warehouses are already too full. Companies that make stuff are getting
pummeled and the ones that don’t are mostly gone. And we M.B.A.s find
ourselves asking: Is Amazon doomed? Is Yahoo doomed? Are we doomed?
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Stanford business student
Greg Yap
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Only two years ago all eyes, M.B.A.s included, were
glued to the Internet. By comparison, other industries looked tame. But my
passion is health care, biotechnology and genomics. And, thanks to the
Human Genome Project, it’s back in vogue. I wouldn’t have believed it 10
years ago, but genomics, the study of an individual’s unique set of genes,
is almost a household word now.
I believe
that biotech and genomics companies are critical to the future of drug
development and health care. These companies are in the process of
creating revolutionary drugs for diseases like cancer and AIDS. More and
more new things are being discovered about genes, which will result in
better drugs and diagnostics. The work itself combines people with diverse
abilities—lab-coated biologists and chemists mingle with computer
programmers and mathematicians, engineers and business people. There is no
doubt in my mind that these fields will transform health care. |
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What do I want?
To help build, with this rich combination of people and technologies, a
company that will change the world by improving health and extending
lives.
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Diary of a Job
Hunter |
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A Stanford B-school
student on his 21st-century job search |
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Day 1:
The Current
State of Affairs |
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Day 2:
What
Matters Most |
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Day 3:
Where the
Grads Are |
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Day 4:
Decisions,
Decisions |
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Day 5:
Biotech
Bound |
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want a position where I can develop new markets and products and make them
become a reality. I want to enjoy the company of the people I work with
and learn from them, too. In the last three months I’ve met with roughly
80 industry executives, venture capitalists, Stanford alumni, former
colleagues and friends in the industry. In each meeting, I have either
reestablished an old relationship or forged a new one. But as of today, I
have no formal offers of employment and more than $70,000 in business
school debt. What, I ask you, is an M.B.A. to do?
Tomorrow: How will I pick my
next job?
Greg Yap is a native of Silicon Valley who was briefly but happily
exiled to the east coast at Princeton University, where he graduated with
an A.B. in molecular biology. Since then, he has held positions in
business development at Affymetrix, a Silicon Valley genomics company; in
venture capital at Bay City Capital, a San Francisco health care merchant
bank; and in management consulting at McKinsey & Co. He will receive
his M.B.A. degree at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in June.
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Looking Beyond The Dot Bomb (Newsweek Magazine, 28 April 2001)
