I shouldn't be happy about it, but...

I went to a job fair in Brussels on Friday. For a city I didn't really like very much previously, it went quite well. I had four pretty solid job interviews and I'm feeling a lot more optimistic than I was last week.

But the most memorable episode of the day was not a job interview. It was a conversation with a guy I met in line for lunch. He was a student at HEC's bitter rival, INSEAD. When he introduced himself as such, I said - jokingly of course - "Ah, so we're supposed to hate each other, huh?" He appeared to agree.

It's hard to overstate the sense of rivalry between HEC and INSEAD. The vaunted Yale/Harvard rivalry has nothing on it. In fact, all the previous rivalries I've witnessed, from Yale/Harvard back to Grinnell/Carleton and all the way back to Robinson/Lake Braddock - all of them combined don't pack the barely concealed resentment of HEC vs. INSEAD. They're bigger than we are, and probably better known in most parts of the world, and since they're bigger, they have much larger applicant pools and many more rejected applicants. We, however, have a slightly lower acceptance rate, something many of us are quite proud of.

For my part, I've made good use of my experience with the two universities when people ask me in job interviews why I came to HEC (and they almost always do ask). I explain that I wanted more overseas experience and was especially interested in France because I wanted to brush up on my French, so I applied to both of them. I got to the interview stage with both, and got along famously with all the HEC alums I met. Not so the INSEAD alums, who were more than a little bit snobby and aloof and devoid of reasons to go to their school other than the chance to get rich. (One of them insisted that I rent a car and drive three hours - Denver to Aspen - to meet her at her home for the interview...and then forgot all about it. She happened to come home while I was there waiting for her, but I could very easily have been out the cost of the rental and the seven hours or so the trip involved in all.) In the end I didn't get into INSEAD anyway, but I had already decided on HEC regardless. Of course I tell the story more diplomatically than that in interviews; but when I'm speaking diplomatically about why I chose HEC, the above is what I'm really thinking.

Given all that, why would we HECers waste our time and energy on the rivalry? Because we have a rather naive impression that it's much easier to find a job if you go to INSEAD. It's understandable that one would think as much, for they are far more likely to get recruiting visits on campus from the most prestigious banks, consulting firms, and such. Of course, I've always suspected there was an element of "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" to all this. In Brussels on Friday, I learned that is correct. The guy I met there (with whom I got along just fine in spite of all of the above!) explained that, yes, they do get a lot of campus visits and job offers. The problem is, every single person on campus applies for all those jobs - and remember, there are a lot more students there. I imagine the rivalry among the students is pretty fierce.

Whatever I didn't like about HEC (and as most of you know, I do have my issues with the place), it does not inspire any sort of rivalry among peers, nor did we all ever feel like we were fighting for a piece of the same pie. It's nice to know the smaller fish in the pond have advantages too. Of course, I really shouldn't have needed to have as much spelled out for me. But such is the mentality that goes with job searches.