One thing Anderson MBA students do is join an Anderson Career Team (ACT), a small group of 10-12 first years. Led by a second year who guides us through our internship search, these teams revolve around either an industry or a function. For example, while I considered joining the corporate finance ACT, I finally went for the healthcare one. I find ACT meetings useful because they allow me to meet people with healthcare experience and share the internship-search workload with others. We also discuss related topics, such as the need to send a thank you note to an interviewer after an interview. The consensus seems to be that, while nobody likes to do it, you should do it anyway. This of course brings me to our topic – marginal competitive advantage.
The quest for a marginal competitive advantage is akin to installing battery operated sound effects and twinkling stars in the background of your dinosaur shoebox diorama in the 2nd grade. The idea is that, when facing tremendous competition, the little things will give you an edge. Was it always so? Well, I know an engineer who, laid off after 25 years of loyal service, must write cover letters for the first time in his life when applying for jobs. Unfortunately for him, someone had an idea to differentiate himself sometime between now and two decades ago, and now we all have to write cover letters and thank-you notes. In some way, we are all held hostage by the next guy who will raise the bar by coming up with a new marketing stunt to make an impression. This raises the question: “What hoops will we have to jump through to get a job twenty years from now?”
In 2029, we will have to include a box of chocolates with each resume we send. In order to better connect with the interviewer, our cover letters will end with “Big Love” instead of “Best Regards”. Actually, cover letters and resumes won’t be electronic anymore because, let’s face it, e-mails are so 2009 and who has time to read the tens of thousands they receive anyway? Instead, job applicants will hire people to intercept interviewers on their way to work, sing their resume, and maybe even top it off with a nice back rub. We will also notice the emergence of a new trend: candidates bringing a bottle of wine or flowers to the interview. Finally, we will prepare engraved gold thank-you placards written in haiku format, and make sure to send one to interviewers AND their immediate family. So, you see, it’s good to live in 2009!
–Simon
