Selections Interview with Joy Sever, Senior Vice President and Director of the Reputation Practice, Harris Interactive

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Selections: I saw that you did survey more than 5,200 students but didn’t include their responses in the final ranking. How did you use those responses?
Sever: We used them in a couple of different ways. And to clarify on why we didn’t use them, it was because different schools chose to handle their requests in different ways. We gave them an invitation to share with their students. It was an invitation to participate in an online survey. So, some schools had a few hundred students participate, and others only had two. We never intended those responses to be part of the ratings and rankings. That information, we provided in a summary report that is available to the schools. And there is some of the most interesting information in there on recruiting tactics. So, we may do something with it, but we haven’t done anything with it yet. But it’s fantastic information.

Selections: So, that information is not provided in the e-book?
Sever: No.

Selections: How should prospective MBA students use the information published in the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive ranking?
Sever: They should be looking at a number of different pieces of information when making a decision, and I am sure they do. It’s a big decision. In addition to the surveys, there is so much information out there that can help them make a decision. I think all others things being equal, I think perhaps they may come down to two or three schools that may be of interest to them, and they are trying to make a decision between them. I think what our survey provides is information on that bond between the recruiters and the schools. It would provide an indication of the strength of the relationship, and I think a school that has a very good relationship with its recruiters and is rated highly by recruiters is one that is probably going to work well for the students when it comes time to getting a job.

Selections: How should the schools, and then also the recruiters, use this information?
Sever: Well, the schools can learn so much from this. We learned that what recruiters really value are strong interpersonal communication skills. They really are turned off by arrogance. They really want smart students. But I think there are a lot of students in MBA programs who are smart. I think there are varying degrees, and there are different aspects that recruiters look for, but the qualities that were most important really had to do with the personality and culture and fit and really fitting well. I think schools can learn that, so that those that may not have done as well as they thought they should have or that they have done on other surveys—and often that was the case—they can learn from that. They can also learn from the details. Different recruiters from different industries look for different things when they are going to different schools. That also could be beneficial.

Selections: I know there were differences between the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive findings and those of other surveys. One example is Stanford, which was ranked number 45 in your survey and number 1 in that last U.S. News survey. Why is there so much disparity in the ranking results?
Sever: Stanford is an excellent example and one that helps to prove our point that we’ve got really good information here. Stanford didn’t do as well as it does on other surveys partially because it was a very unique year for Stanford and other schools on the West Coast because of the demand. I think some schools had a harder time meeting that demand and there were some recruiters who couldn’t be at the top of the list in terms of being heard or met with. They were probably upset. That could have been behind it. But in the same survey, when we asked recruiters where they would go if they were going back to do a MBA, Stanford was at the top of the list [ranked second behind Harvard]. I think that shows they still appreciate it as a place they would want to go, but in terms of fulfilling their recruiting needs for the company they work for, it didn’t satisfy them. It fell short. But do they still see it as a good school? Of course. I think that helps to prove our point, as opposed to people thinking this doesn’t make sense. It makes perfect sense.

Selections: What impact do you see the Wall Street Journal ranking in particular, and business school rankings in general, having on business schools and management education?
Sever: Well, we’re not in this to impact . . . we didn’t touch on the educational aspect itself. So, in terms of the quality of the school and its professors and its academic contributions, this survey is not meant to look at that. This is a survey purely about recruiters’ perceptions. But where I think it will have an impact and where we would hope it would have an impact is that the schools will learn what their recruiters value, and they will learn that perhaps the recruiters that recruit there don’t recognize their strengths. They can say, “Well, recruiters actually value one of our particular qualities, but they rated us poorly on that. We need to do a better job of communicating that.” Or they may learn that recruiters value something and they have neglected it. So, it can help them address something that they have neglected, because it actually is important to their recruiters. I think schools can actually do something about how they interface with their customers and actually improve. And that is what this should be about. This shouldn’t be about some arbitrary exercise that the schools have to do just so that they can do well on a survey. That is really the wrong thing for us to be doing. So, if they learn from this and they do something, it will actually be done with all of the right intentions. If that happens, I think the recruiters will benefit, the students will benefit, and the schools will benefit. I don’t think it is going to happen overnight, but if anyone were to change their behavior, we hope that is the direction it goes in.

Selections: To whom do you consider yourself accountable in the work of producing the rankings?
Sever: Probably multiple audiences. I sort of put the schools first. I think we owe it to the schools to make sure we represent them in a correct way and don’t misrepresent them. But I think we are accountable to the students, the recruiters, the readers. It’s pretty broad.

Selections: The results of this ranking were reported in the Wall Street Journal, published on the Web site, and published in this very lengthy e-book, correct?
Sever: Yes.

Selections: Do you know how many e-books have been sold thus far?
Sever: No. The Wall Street Journal may know that. I don’t know.

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