Student With Skills to Design Bridge Covets Job of Recommending Layoffs
Last week, a survey conducted within the College of Engineering found that most students hope to spend the first years of their career advising companies to fire middle managers. These engineering students wish to join top management consulting firms to gain a competitive edge in future job opportunities. Many also desire to join the ruling elite class that they have felt excluded from while attending a state university.
“I’ve been doing a ton of case prep for the super day I have next week,” said Derek Anderson, a senior Mechanical Engineering major. He was spotted in the same ZACH study room every day last week, working his way through consulting interview books and kissing up to current consultants.
“I just like the breadth of opportunity that consulting offers,” Anderson said. “It’s great to be able to learn a little bit about so many companies before I recommend they slash their workforce to help the bottom line.”
Management consultants are professionals hired to solve problems in many different industries and recommend high-level changes in sectors where they lack expertise. Similar to freshmen engineering students, consultants are assertive in their working environment despite having no relevant experience to back up their claims.
—MSC ALITTLE
You’ve seen him, the phantom of the Memorial Student Center, lurking in the back of the lunch crowd. Perhaps you caught a glimpse of him darting in and out of various conference rooms. MSC ALITTLE is the CEO of overcommitment, and a sucker for any organization with a pithy acronym. His motives are a mystery. Clout chasing? Resume building? Maybe he just really likes the food at Rev’s. Whatever the case, we count ourselves lucky to be swept away to his lair in the basement, to be tutored in time management and seizing the day.