“What If No One Hires Us?”

An honest reflection on MBA anxiety in a shifting job market.

“Why is recruiting so stressful?”

“Is it just me, or have we taken a huge risk by giving up the comfort of our jobs for two years of an enriching academic experience, only to become more unemployable?”

“Why does it feel like my entire self-worth is tied to this job search?”

“What if no one hires us?”

If these are questions running through your mind, then it might be comforting to know that you’re not alone.

The release of The Economist’s MBA unemployment report was just the tip of the iceberg. The gravity of the situation didn’t hit me until I spoke to multiple RCs and ECs and heard them quote 20 different news articles, share their experiences, and describe how uncertainty around their job searches has hindered their MBA experience. It made me realize that most students are struggling and that we’re all navigating the same storm.

Such conversations made it clear to me that not getting hired is perhaps the biggest underlying fear for every MBA. It’s not just the fear of being unemployed, but also the rising dissatisfaction people are feeling as they’re forced to either (a) settle for something they didn’t really want, or (b) rethink career paths entirely because the concepts of “leaps” and “pivots” don’t quite hold up in a market where talent supply far exceeds demand. While some factors contributing to the current job market are cyclical, like over-hiring in some sectors or slowed growth in others, the randomness of the process and uncertainty attached to it only exacerbate the underlying stress and fear among high-achieving HBS students.

Having had countless conversations with peers, ECs, faculty, and alumni on this topic, I found myself collecting insights that I’ve tried to bucket below. If these help even one person feel a little more prepared as they navigate this process (or intend to in the future), I’ll feel like I’ve achieved what I set out to do

1. Start Early and Identify Your Unique Story

While HBS alums advised me to have an HBS-formatted resume ready before coming to campus, no one told me how critical it would be not to wait things out during the blackout period because that’s exactly when students at other B-schools are proactively engaging with employers. While I’m not suggesting we go against HBS norms, I do believe the blackout period is a great time to lay the groundwork for conversations with ECs, faculty, and peers in sectors you’re genuinely curious about.

In those early conversations, focus on crafting a narrative that’s unique to you. Reflect on which parts of your professional experience make you a strong fit for the roles you're exploring and how those tie to your future aspirations (yes, a mini recap or a revised version of your HBS application journey). A useful piece of advice from an HBS alum was to “design your strategy around the second-best job you’d want after B-school.” While everyone may not agree with this, I found it incredibly helpful for two reasons:

1. It takes the pressure off finding the “perfect” summer internship and emphasizes the need to use our summer as a safe, risk-free time for experimentation and the exploration of professional interests

2. It helps craft a smart, strategic plan that aligns with your prior experience and what you imagine doing in your second or third (or anything beyond your first) post-MBA role.

2. Fully Leverage HBS Resources and Reconnect with Old Networks

You’ll be surprised by how powerful the HBS network can be, especially when tapped early and intentionally. This includes HBS alumni, specifically those who may have been or are in the exact same situation because, as we all know, bad job markets aren’t a novel phenomenon. Engaging early with faculty for professional help and guidance is likely to open multiple pathways.

I cannot emphasize enough the power of the hbs.edu domain. Be shameless in your reach-outs. Exhaust your weekly LinkedIn request limit. Use 12twenty’s “Connect with an alum” feature until it tells you to stop. If you’re genuinely aiming for a role you have no prior experience or skills for, the least your future employer will appreciate is the fact that you were relentless. And that persistence will substantially increase your chances of getting your foot in the door. You’d be surprised — this actually works.

Connecting with alumni from your undergraduate institutions or professional organizations can also help in unimaginable ways. Long story short, be cautious of underutilizing your current and past professional and academic networks.

3. Make a Contingency Plan, Cast a Wide Net, and Pursue Multiple Paths

Coming from someone who, just a few months ago, wrote about developing comfort around uncertainty, this may sound counterintuitive. But contingency planning, especially defining and pursuing multiple paths, has helped immensely. “Worst case scenario” thinking has also brought some light at the end of the tunnel. HBS as an ecosystem provides multiple opportunities to stay meaningfully engaged in case you don’t find the perfect fit by graduation. These include working with professors, the iLabs, and the HBS Foundry on projects that can serve as useful buffers, demonstrate your interest in a topic (e.g., AI), and offer a safety net while giving you more time to find the right opportunity in a tough job market.

Beyond action planning, I have also begun wondering: could this downturn be an invitation to go bold?

For some, this market has pushed and incentivized a kind of risk-taking that would’ve felt uncomfortable in more attractive conditions, like starting something new, becoming an angel investor, or/and building a personal investment portfolio. While we haven’t officially hit a recession, it’s comforting to remember that some of today’s biggest tech giants were born during economic downturns, including WhatsApp, Uber, Airbnb, Slack, Instagram, and Microsoft. Maybe this is our version of that moment.

In the end, while I acknowledge that we are all high-achieving MBAs who have spent our lives ticking off the boxes, I want to remind you that none of this defines your self-worth. And on that note, I’ll leave you with something Roger Federer said, which has helped me develop the mindset of an athlete:

“In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost ~80% of those matches, but only ~54% of the points in those matches. In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points they play. When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think: okay, I double-faulted — it’s only a point; okay, I came to the net and got passed again — it’s only a point. Even a great shot, an overhead smash that ends up on ESPN’s Top 10 playlist — that too is just a point. So, when you’re playing a point, it must be the most important thing in the world — and it is. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you.”

Every time I read this, I’m reminded that it’s not the result that defines us, but the consistency of effort. What matters more than the outcome is the intention and honesty behind it. It’s easier said than done, but knowing that everyone here has a story and earned their place at HBS gives me confidence. If we’ve made it this far, we can reach our full potential as long as we keep showing up.

Palak Raheja (MBA ’26) is originally from Lucknow, India. She graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, with degrees in Statistics and Economics. Prior to HBS, she worked at Bain India, and in the Indian consumer and health-tech start-up ecosystem. In her free time, she can be found reading, running, or watching movies.