Business schools in the West are joining hands in a new ambitious effort to showcase their talented M.B.A. candidates to American corporations. The "West Coast M.B.A. Consortium" will make it easier for employers to shop for new talent by inviting recruiters to one location in Southern California where students representing 13 schools can be interviewed in January. The collaboration is designed to encourage corporate recruiters to take a closer look at students from schools whose M.B.A. programs are not as well-known as those at Stanford, Harvard or the London School of Economics, notes Don Blodger, director of career services at the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis and a coordinator for the consortium. "Because our school is relatively young, we must work extra hard at helping our students establish corporate contacts. The recruiting process is a difficult one, and many business schools are aggressively pursuing partnerships with the business community," says Blodger. For example, at UC Davis, summer internships with businesses are required for all first-year business students. Blodger thinks this is important since internships often lead to career positions.