Banks Competing With Tech For MBA Talent - Poets&Quants

A decade ago, finance was the most popular career choice for MBA graduates. That was before the 2008 finance collapse produced pink slips and panic. As MBAs were carrying their belongings out of Lehman Brothers, the tech industry eclipsed banking as the seat of power in business. Now, consulting has replaced banking as the most popular career choice for MBAs according to the Graduate Management Admission Council. And high tech is closing in fast.

Jonathan Moules, a writer at Financial Times, discusses this pivot towards tech in a new article.

More MBA Grads Are Going Into Big Tech

Companies, like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, are increasingly pitching tech careers to MBAs at leading business schools. At Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Amazon was the biggest recruiter of students.

Last year, Poets & Quants analyzed data from TransparentCareer, the Glassdoor for MBA grads, and aggregated a ranking of employers based on self-reported data from MBA grads. The data was divided into three key categories: total compensation, weekly hours worked, and job satisfaction. MBA grads reported Google as the most desirable company to work at. Tech and consulting companies dominated within the top 10. In fact, no banks appeared in the top 10 – and just Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley made the top 20.

Bill Boulding is the dean of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. He tells Financial Times that banks will need to change their traditional recruiting pitch of generous salaries to compete with big tech as the top employer for MBAs.

“Banks still hire people but they have to up their game,” he says. “If you are going to attract the current generation of students you have to give them something that has meaning and purpose, not just the opportunity to make a lot of money.”

Salary Is Now Just As Important As Quality Of Life

One reason behind why tech has become so popular among MBA grads involves pay. Banks can no longer simply win over MBA grads with generous salaries.

Jeff McNish is the assistant dean of career development in the admissions department of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. McNish tells Financial Times that since the financial crisis, a number of tech firms have matched Wall Street for pay.

“At Darden, whether it is a consulting job, an investment banking job or a product management job in a tech company, the pay is going to be the same, in the $125,000 to $140,000 range,” he says.

JP Morgan’s Robert Walke

Rob Walke is co-head of campus recruiting JPMorgan Chase. Walke tells Financial Times that the bank still actively recruits among US business schools, but the landscape and demand for banking careers has changed.

“You will always have those people who knew from birth that they wanted to go into corporate finance, but gone are the days when we would be inundated with students who want to go into banking,” he says.

Walke says that JPMorgan has changed its recruiting pitch to focus more on the quality of banking roles rather than simply offering generous salary packages.

“If we are spending a lot of time and money to hire these highly talented individuals, we want to make sure that when we get them there is something interesting and challenging for them to do,” Walke tells Financial Times.  

Big Tech Is Actively Recruiting For MBA Talent

In the data collected from TransparentCareer, Amazon took the number one spot for hiring more MBAs than any other company.

Companies like Google are actively making their presence known among MBA campuses. And they want top MBA talent.

Kevin Marvinac is co-founder and chief operating officer of TransparentCareer. He says tech companies, like Google, have a number of MBA roles available.

“In particular, they hire MBAs with technical backgrounds for product manager roles that seem to be in demand,” he says.
Marvinac adds that the continuing decrease in popularity of financial services roles is a “sign of the times.” Most current MBAs, he explains, were studying in undergrad during or right after the financial crisis. “I remember being a finance major in college and thinking, ‘Wow, I have no interest in banking anymore after watching the Lehman Brothers debacle.”

If anything, it seems now that banks will need to compete with big tech for future MBA talent.

“Investment banking isn’t the most desirable post-MBA career anymore, and it may not even be in the top three,” Marvinac says. “That’s something these recruiters are going to have to fight against.”

Sources: Financial Times, Poets & Quants

Harvard Business School

Quora CFO On How To Make The Most Of Your MBA Education

In the United States, an MBA programs generally lasts two years. Those two years can go by fast, however. For those who want to get the highest return from their time, look no further than this advice from Kelley Battles, CFO of Quora and an alumna of Harvard Business School. Battles recently discussed in a Forbes article how students can make the most of an MBA program.

“As with most things, you get out of it what you invest in it,” she says. “Business school is expensive both in time and treasure, so make it count.”

Take Time To Invest In Your Network & Take Advantage Of Resources

Investing in your MBA also means investing in your network. Battles argues that students should put whatever extra time they have towards getting to know colleagues — both students and professors. The majority of an MBA’s value is in its network, she says, and it’s important to put time into investing in deep relationships with colleagues.

“In all honesty, I worked very hard (especially my first year) and went to HBS with at least two very dear friends, so I did not practice what I now preach on this as much I would have liked,” she says. “That said, in the beginning of my second year at HBS, I randomly met probably the single biggest career influencer in my life (and now a dear friend of both mine and my husband’s) and over time was lucky enough to build a meaningful relationship with him. I feel very fortunate about this – to this day – and wish I had invested more here.”

In a past Quora post, Battles cited the importance of an MBA network. Specifically, she noted that attending a top five business school can open students up to the following:

Quora’s Kelly Battles

• New industries and their business models.
• What other functions do.
• An academic view of what constitutes good leadership and management skills.
• How to self-advocate – if you really spend time with your professors talking them up and convincing them how smart you are (which I invested no time in honestly).
• If you are in a school that aggressively uses the case study method (which I heartily recommend), you will definitely be encouraged to practice public speaking. As a person who needed to “lean in” more when I entered business school, this was particularly valuable for me.

Another important aspect of the MBA is the career resources center. And Battles says students should take advantage of career resources to help find summer and full-time jobs.

“I don’t think I ever had more superlatively strong career services support than I did while at HBS. Leverage this asset while at school and beyond,” she says.

Work Hard, But Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

While it’s important to put your best foot forward to ensure your investment pays off, Battles adds that it’s crucial to remember what you’re working for. She recalls how many students at HBS “freaked out” and “hit the screen” or failed out.

“I am convinced that HBS has a reputation for having “overly-competitive” students because of this ‘mania,’” she says. “In the end, most people I knew who hit the screen either didn’t speak English as their first language or really were uncertain about wanting to be in business school in the first place. And more importantly, once students chilled out, they learned more, had more time to invest in getting to know people, and importantly, had more fun.”

Aspects of business school, such as business cases, often require a great deal of time. While it’s important to approach them with efficiency, it’s also important to set limits.

“At HBS when I was there, most everyone made the same grade so if still true, work to learn, don’t work for work’s sake or for the grade,” she says.

Sources: Forbes, Quora, Quora

What You Need To Know About Online MBAs

Online MBA programs are growing. Yet, there are still stigmas and stereotypes that plague the online education world.

Stacy Blackman, a U.S. News & World Report contributor and founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting, recently published a piece on three things you may not have known about online MBAs.

Online MBA Programs Offer Top-Notch Faculty

The quality of an MBA is in its faculty and Blackman says a number of online MBA programs have enlisted leading professors.

At Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, students can take the same classes from the same faculty as they would in the on-campus program, Amy Hillman, dean of ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business, tells U.S. News.

“We began offering online degrees in the early 2000s, long before it was as widely accepted as it is now,” Hillman says. “So, we know from experience how to deliver great content to students and offer a flexible degree that will ultimately help them take that next step in their careers.”

At Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, the part-time online MBA program “offers flexibility to working students as well as the same faculty, curriculum, career planning resources and degree that on-campus students receive,” Blackman says.

For University of Southern California’s Marshall Online MBA, students get taught by faculty teams rather than individual professors.

“Faculty members, each an expert in a different discipline, teach the course together, providing students with multiple perspectives that may include, for example, marketing, accounting, data analytics and communication,” Miriam Burgos, academic director of USC’s online MBA program and associate professor of clinical marketing, tells U.S. News. “This holistic approach to learning mirrors 21st century global business practices.”

USC’s Miriam Burgos

Moreover, Burgos adds that online MBA courses are structured around more particular topics rather than discrete topics.

Online MBAs Can Offer Experiential Learning

Perhaps some of the most valuable experiences one can gain from an MBA is the hands-on aspect of experiential learning. Now, a number of MBA programs are bringing experiential learning to their online programs.

For instance, at Indiana’s Kelley Direct Online, students can take immersion courses that “focus on particular business areas, such as advertising and branding in New York or a Washington Campus immersion program to navigate the gap between business and politics,” Blackman says.

At the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, students can take part in the Student Teams Achieving Results Program, or STAR, and take on consulting roles at real companies.

“Our students take on the role of consultants to real companies in order to develop consulting skills for their future careers in business,” UNC’s website reads. “Together, from January to May, STAR teams of five to six full-time students work under the skillful guidance of our tenured or clinical/adjunct professors with significant business and consulting experience. The STAR teams collaborate with the corporate partner sponsors for ongoing dialogue in a similar manner as a consulting engagement.”

You Can Get Scholarships & Financial Aid For Online MBAs

Blackman reports that prospective online students, who are applying for an online MBA at an AACSB International-accredited school, can expect the same financial aid process as those who apply to traditional MBA programs.

“Students apply for financial aid using the FAFSA, the same as they do at other institutions. We contact them via their email account and direct them to their student portal when there’s action they need to take,” says Cheryl Storie, associate vice president of financial aid at the University of Maryland University College, which serves both traditional and online students.

In GMAC’s 2017 Application Trends Report, 38% of online MBA students expect to receive employer support for their education.

Blackman advises prospective MBA students to choose a program that will fit their needs and goals.

“For many busy professionals, an online MBA program makes perfect sense as a way to achieve their career goals through a flexible format that adapts to their schedule,” Blackman says. “As you consider programs, choose one that is a fit with your goals and lifestyle to ensure the best results from application to graduation.”

Sources: U.S. News, UNC Kenan-Flagler, US News

Why You Should Find An MBA Program That Teaches Prediction Skills

It’s impossible to predict the future, but it can help if you know the past. Experts say that the ability to anticipate and adjust to rapid innovation is highly in demand.

Ilana Kowarski, a reporter at U.S. News, recently explored four signs prospective students should look for in an MBA program if they want to gain analytic prediction skills.

Forward-Looking Curriculum

If you’re interested in learning prediction skills, it may be helpful to look at whether a particular school offers courses in predictive analytics – “a type of business analytics that uses both historical and current business data to create forecasts, or precise mathematical models of what will happen next,” Kowarski says.

Kenneth Ko is an associate professor of decision sciences and an associate dean of various academic programs at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. Ko tells US News that understanding how to explain forecasts to those who “lack formal analytics training” is useful.

In addition, students can also choose to concentrate or take a few courses in organizational behavior: “the study of the way people interact within groups,” according to Investopedia. “Normally this study is applied in an attempt to create more efficient business organizations. The central idea of the study of organizational behavior is that a scientific approach can be applied to the management of workers.”

Ko tells U.S. News that organizational behavior courses address the differences between organizations with creative cultures and organizations with destructive cultures.

Faculty With Real-World Experience

Like with any quality MBA program, faculty with real-world experience is crucial. Ko tells U.S. News that this is especially important for those who seek to learn prediction skills since professors will need to be aware of current and emerging business trends.

Applicants should look to target schools where the majority of faculty have real-world experience or are experts within their respective fields. Not only does this ensure that they will be better off teaching predictive skills, but also understand more current findings about the field of interest.

Lessons On How To Deal With Ambiguity & Failure

Ronald K. Machtley is the president of Bryant University. Machtley tells U.S. News that tech has vastly revolutionized a number of U.S. industries and that students will need to understand how to properly adjust to rapid innovation.

Moreover, Machtley says it’s crucial to take courses that will allow you to figure out what how to deal with things like risk, failure, and ambiguity.

“The workplace is going to be significantly different,” he tells US News. “In this new world that we’re going to be living in, where you have to have one foot in the traditional world and one foot in this new world, there’s going to be failure, and the question is are students prepared to accept failure and have the grit and perseverance to move on?”

Sources: U.S. News, Investopedia

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