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Business school students say Pittsburgh is starting to hum
Sunday, April 09, 2000 By Dan Fitzpatrick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Stephanie Kaye has high expectations for life after graduate school.
Companies woo her friends at Carnegie Mellon University's business school with job offers of $60,000 to $120,000, signing bonuses of $10,000 to $25,000 and the occasional $25,000 tuition reimbursement.
But a big salary doesn't appeal to Kaye, who graduates in May from CMU's Graduate School of Industrial Administration.
She is holding out for a bigger prize.
Kaye recently accepted a job with Zefer Corp., a 4-year-old Internet consulting firm that has a Pittsburgh office. Knowing the Boston-based company was about to issue stock to the public, Kaye asked for stock options instead of a large, base salary. When Zefer goes public, Kaye could win big.
Such is the life of a highly trained, highly motivated business-school student circa 2000.
"My mother did not even know what an IPO was," said Kaye, 28, referring to a company's initial public offering of stock.
For graduates of the region's top business schools, this is a time of unprecedented wealth and opportunity. Needing lots of talent to compete in a fast-changing economy, companies are doing whatever it takes to lure these graduates.
For insight on what it means to be young and in demand, the Post-Gazette gathered Kaye and five other business-school students to talk about Pittsburgh, the economy and their view of the future.
Two of the roundtable participants are from Pittsburgh, two are from Ohio, one is from Canada and one is from Turkey. There are four women and two men, ranging in age from 27 to 33.
Only one, Kaye, plans to leave Pittsburgh after graduation.
The others plan to stick around for awhile. In a twist on the conventional wisdom about Pittsburgh's inability to keep young people, the students who plan to stay expressed optimism about Pittsburgh's array of economic opportunities.
Geoffrey Owen, a 27-year-old who plans to graduate this spring with a master's degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business, said Pittsburgh companies were offering salaries that match what he might find in California's Silicon Valley. Many of his Katz classmates, he said, are receiving offers ranging from $70,000 to $80,000.
Like Kaye, though, Owen opted for a small start-up that has a chance to make it big. In May, he starts work with MuniAuction, a 3-year-old company Downtown that sells bonds and other fixed-income investments over the Internet.
But the money was not the motivator.
After talking with MuniAuction founder Myles Harrington, "I didn't care about the money at all because I knew we would be tied at the hip to make sure this thing succeeds," Owen said. "I might make money; I might not."
At the same time, Owen admits that a hot job market gives him the luxury of risking his first job on a small company.
Money was a hot topic with the six Post-Gazette roundtable participants. Each had a different view of wealth in a New Economy.
Eric Dickerson, a 33-year-old now pursuing an MBA at Duquesne University, draws a distinction between what he expects from a career and what his parents expected. His parents, he said, never made more than $75,000 a year.
Dickerson, currently a vice president with the Federal Home Loan Bank, knows he can make a lot more.
If a company were to offer him $60,000, he might not take it. He doesn't think the other business-school students would either. "No one around this table is going to pay any attention to you," he said.
Teresa Halsell and Rose Palmieri-Farrell look at the money issue differently.
Halsell, a 33-year-old who moved here in June to attend the University of Pittsburgh's business school, feels out of touch with the aggressive employees of local technology companies. Before attending school, she worked for 10 years in various banking jobs. After graduation, she plans to start with PPG Industries Inc.
People who take jobs at start-up companies, she said, want "to get in, get these options, have it take off, make their million dollars and get out." People her age, she said, are more traditional in outlook. They want a nice base salary and long-term opportunities for promotion, she said.
Palmieri-Farrell, a 28-year-old from Oakland who is pursuing an MBA at Duquesne, does not plan to pull down a six-figure salary after graduation.
That's okay with her.
For the last five years, Palmieri-Farrell has worked for Cornell Cos., a provider of correctional treatment and education for adult and juvenile lawbreakers. She works with the younger offenders, helping them find jobs and collect restitution for crime victims.
"You can't be spoiled," she said. "I think some of us want everything, and we want it now. The way I was brought up, if you work hard, you will get it later."
Despite the lure of Internet riches, Palmieri-Farrell can see herself working at Cornell for the next 10 to 15 years. "If the company is good to you, you be good to the company. And you put your time and effort into that company."
Emel Yaman, a 28-year-old from Istanbul, Turkey, who graduates from CMU's business school in May, disputes the notion that she and her friends are out for only stock options and get-rich-quick offers.
Yaman works for FreeMarkets Inc., the Internet auctioneer that went public in December. On its first day of trading, FreeMarkets' stock jumped fivefold.
At FreeMarkets, Yaman said she got autonomy to make decisions, daily coaching and opportunities for training.
"People look for respect and recognition at our age," Yaman said.
Receiving stock options makes employees work that much harder. "Your input is really valuable, truly. If you have a stake in the company, you are more motivated than you would be in a company where you are just getting a big salary."
For several students who took part in the Post-Gazette roundtable discussion, technology companies have more to offer in the way of money, challenges and romance.
More traditional, old-line companies are having problems recruiting on CMU's campus. Several company presentations had to be canceled this year due to lack of interest, Yaman said.
"People just don't want to go to the Johnson & Johnson and the Allied Signals of the world anymore," Kaye said. "There are so many other opportunities. And, hey, these other opportunities are paying more, and you are getting equity."
As Kaye shows, however, a good job is not always enough to keep young students in Pittsburgh. This summer, Kaye plans to leave for a job in Zefer's London office.
Of Pittsburgh, Kaye said, "I don't find it to be a hip city."
She craves more of a night life Downtown, a more convenient public transit system, more diversity and safer biking trails.
Kaye loves Pittsburgh's cost of living, though.
Her four-bedroom house costs only $900 a month. She paid double that for a small, two-bedroom apartment last summer in Boston, during an internship. Also, her boyfriend lives Downtown in a converted loft, paying less than $800 per month.
"To live Downtown, in any city, that is fantastic," she said.
Yaman, Kaye's classmate at CMU, has mixed feelings about Pittsburgh, too.
"I'll be honest. It is not the most desirable place to be."
But many of her classmates are staying in Pittsburgh after graduation, making the decision easier. Also, she likes that Pittsburgh has affordable housing, a characteristic lacking in California's Silicon Valley. Yaman recently bought a house in Fox Chapel.
Halsell, who is from Columbus, Ohio, is not excited about living in Pittsburgh, either. She finds it inconvenient. "Nothing is accessible," said Halsell, who spends much of her time in Oakland and Shadyside. "It is major trip just to get to a discount store."
Another concern for her is what she perceives to be a low number of available men in Pittsburgh.
What bothers Dickerson about Pittsburgh is its lack of diversity. A native Pittsburgher who is half black and half Puerto Rican, Dickerson envies the array of cultures in Toronto, one of his favorite cities. When Dickerson walks down the street, "I want to hear five different languages," he said.
"If I have to bet my social future, my marriage future, my financial future and my business future on a town, I am really struggling to make it Pittsburgh. Toronto is calling; D.C. is calling; Chicago is calling; and they are calling very loudly."
During the roundtable, the one person who rose loudly to Pittsburgh's defense was Palmieri-Farrell.
Her parents came to Pittsburgh from Italy in 1966, and her father founded a construction business here.
Where others see weaknesses in Pittsburgh, Palmieri-Farrell sees strengths. She cited the Cultural District, the tight-knit convenience of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods and the new stadiums now rising on the North Side. She also mentioned the collection of shops, coffee shops, bars and nightclubs in Pittsburgh's Strip District.
Pittsburgh's weakness, she said, is its image.
"I think we are still trying to shake off the effects of the steel industry. I think it still haunts us a little bit, and peoples' perception of Pittsburgh is that we are very old, we are ugly and we don't have that much to offer. But I think that is changing."
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