At Duke University's Fuqua School of Business (Fuqua Full-Time MBA Profile), the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers delivered a one-two punch. Not only did it lose the job offers Lehman bestowed on Fuqua grads every year, but in the economic chaos that followed, another big employer of Fuqua grads, Citigroup (C), slashed hiring as well—from 30 in the three years preceding the meltdown to 19 in the three years that followed. Other big employers, including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kraft (KFT), and Bank of America (BAC), also cut back.
At the same time, though, something interesting happened: New employers rushed in to fill the void. Apple (AAPL), which hired just five grads in 2005-07, more than tripled its hiring, taking on 17 Fuqua grads in 2008-10.
Similar patterns have continued to play out at the country's most selective business schools. In the wake of Lehman's collapse and the economic contraction that followed, hundreds of the most coveted MBA jobs in finance have been lost during what turned out to be one of the worst markets for MBA talent in history. Since then, more students have begun seeking nontraditional job opportunities and the job market for MBAs has diversified, with companies such as Apple and Amazon.com (AMZN), which never hired MBAs in large numbers before, suddenly rising to prominence.
The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business (Booth Full-Time MBA Profile), University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (Wharton Full-Time MBA Profile), and Columbia Business School (Columbia Full-Time MBA Profile) sent about 123 new MBAs to Goldman Sachs (GS) and 99 to Morgan Stanley (MS) from 2008 to 2010. That represented a decline from 207 and 125, respectively, in 2005-2007, according to employment data supplied by those schools.
The decline reflects an industrywide trend that has prompted business schools to better prepare students hoping for job offers from such firms.
In Goldman's securities division, for example, the firm has decreased new MBA hiring and instead hired more bachelor's degree holders, says Sandra Hurse, a Goldman vice-president in charge of campus recruiting. One area of the firm where MBA hiring has grown, she says, is in its private wealth management business. A side effect of the latter shift is that Goldman's new MBA hiring has become more spread out across the U.S. as its private wealth management offices are located in cities from Philadelphia to Houston, she says.
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