The GMAT Club Blog

MBA Graduates Face Tough Job Market

With layoffs on Wall Street and a contracting economy, MBA classes of 2009 are facing a very difficult hiring climate. Although many investment banks and other financial institutions are still recruiting, the number of financial institution has declined and some banks are only recruiting half the number of students they recruited last year. Students, recruiters, and school administrators alike have expressed concern regarding the tight job market.

“If I was a second-year student I wouldn't be too optimistic," said Dan Waters, who was recruiting at a job fair at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Kellogg Assistant Dean Roxanne Hori said, "It certainly favors the companies to be more selective, which they're going to be in this environment because everybody's being more conservative in their hiring targets."

Despite Wall Street’s predicted loss of 45,000 jobs, Chicago Graduate School of Business Assistant Dean, Stacey Kole still expressed some reserved optimism, "We’ve seen firms go away and the level of M & A activity is down. But there is still a lot of demand for these folks." Some Business School graduates have already accepted offers, while others have been told that they must postpone their start at work. Still others face fierce competition from both their peers and from those who graduated a few years ago and find themselves back on the job market due to layoffs.

First year student, Ngaio Palmer, summed up the situation, "Most will have a job offer by the time they graduate, but it may not be their preferred company and it may not be their preferred location. But at this point, beggars can't be choosers."

If you are thinking about applying to B-School after being laid-off, please click on the link.

 

Laid off! How Will It Affect Your Application

A friend of ours is a financial adviser who likes to compare the gyrations of the stock market to a yo-yo being carried upstairs. My husband emailed him this morning and asked, "What happens if the guy carrying the yo-yo drops it?"

It's been a dizzying few days in the financial market. I have heard from several applicants who are concerned they may not have a job tomorrow. One applicant asked me, "Will losing my job hurt my chances of acceptance?"

If you lose your job at a company that is an obvious and very public victim of the current credit melt-down, it will not affect the admissions committees' evaluation of you and your credentials at all. They will not "hold you responsible," or think less of you. As I told the young woman I was speaking with, "Don't worry about it. You have bigger things to worry about."

Schools will look at how you respond to a layoff, especially if it becomes lengthy. If you quickly find another job, especially if it’s a position closer to your long-term goals or a promotion, it will help you. But if it takes a few months, adcoms will look at what you did when you didn't have to work. Did you acquire new skills? Did you volunteer more? Get involved in a favorite cause? The election? Devote more time to a hobby or sport? As usual your response to events will say more about you than the fact that something -- including a layoff -- happened.

There is one way that the financial turmoil will influence your chances whether employed or laid off, especially if you are in financial services and applying to schools that attract a lot of applicants from financial services: Competition will intensify and acceptance rates will decline.

Crains of NY reports today that unemployment in New York City surged in August (before the recent spate of dismal news) almost one full percentage point to 5.8%. The unemployment rate is still slightly below the national average, but the spike represents the sharpest monthly jump in New York City in at least three decades and is attributable partially to job loss in the financial sector. In fact "'...the continued financial sector turmoil guarantees that job losses on Wall Street will climb rapidly over the next few months,' said James Brown, a state Department of Labor economist."

So what can a hot-shot investment banker at Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch do? How can an AIG quant jock protect himself?

1. Have crystal clear goals. Present a compelling case for pursuing this degree at School X. You don't want to come across as merely one more refugee seeking shelter from the financial storm. Present yourself as a person with vision and goals who sees your target school as the best way for achieving them.
2. Spend a little more essay real estate on non-professional activities that reveal your ability to contribute uniquely to your class. Unless your work experience or career progression has been truly exceptional, this advice applies to anyone coming from financial services or a common professional group in the applicant pool.

Then you’ll be ready when the yo-yo resumes its climb up the staircase.

Tuck and Its Terrific Alumni

One of those MBA admissions truisms that isn't necessarily true: larger MBA programs provide better networks by virtue of their size. Critics of this bit of wisdom question whether the size of the alumni network counts more than the quality of connections among alumni and between alumni and the school.

Tuck, with its fiercely loyal alumni network and small size, firmly resides in the quality over quantity camp. Furthermore, Tuck argues that its alumni's generosity reflects a significantly higher level of student satisfaction with their MBA experience. This particular debate will continue to rage, but for now let's look at a recent proud press release from the folks in Hanover, New Hampshire:

Tuck surpassed its own alumni giving record this year, both in terms of funds raised and the alumni participation rate in the 2008 Tuck Annual Giving (TAG) campaign.

In 2007-08, 67.5 percent of all Tuck alumni made a financial contribution to the school. This exceeds last year's record by more than a full percentage point. In addition, the total amount of money TAG raised reached $5.9 million, up 18 percent from the previous year.

"This extraordinary support is a testament to the real value that our alumni continue to see in their Tuck education, throughout their entire lives," said Tuck Dean Paul Danos. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a better way of measuring alumni satisfaction with the education they received than by the percentage of alumni who financially contribute to their school. On this metric I'm proud to say that Tuck scores off the charts."

According to BusinessWeek, Tuck is the only business school whose alumni giving rate exceeds 50 percent, with the majority of schools falling below 20 percent. On average, Tuck's alumni participation rate of more than 67 percent tops its peer schools by 30 percentage points.

Talent Seekers Speak: Why We Value an MBA

Please mark your calendars and reserve the time for our first ever chat (co-hosted with the Michigan Ross School of Business) with MBA corporate recruiters: Talent Seekers Speak: Why We Value an MBA.

This event will take place on September 21 starting at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT. It is divided into 4 half-hour chats. Each one consists of a 10-minute panel discussion followed by a moderated question and answer session between applicants and recruiters. As far as I know, this is the first interactive event between MBA recruiters and applicants. Please join Michigan Ross and Accepted.com for this premiere event.

The schedule is as follows:

Start Time                                                         Industry and Participants
  10:00 AM/PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT Financial Services with Bear, Stearns; Deutsche Bank; JP Morgan
  10:30 AM/PT/1:30 PM ET/6:30 PM GMT Consulting with Bain; Boston; Booz, Allen Hamilton; Deloitte
  11:00 AM PT/2:00 PM PT/7:00 PM GMT Marketing with Johnson & Johnson; General Mills; General Electric
  11:30 AM/PT/2:30 PM ET/7:30 PM GMT General Management with Alcoa, Dupont, and Walmart

A few questions I intend to ask the recruiters:     

• What do you value in MBA grads?
• What can MBA applicants do before and during their business school studies to make themselves more attractive to firms when they graduate?
• When evaluating a career changer, what do you look for?

And many more. Please join us.