You can’t escape the fact that an MBA student tends to be a high calibre, switched-on candidate. They’re part of an extensive network - a window into the working world – which also means they have a rather fixed view on what their next career move should be. For that reason, post-MBA’s are interesting creatures to work with, and can be categorised into some pretty distinctive groups…
The career changers
The Consultants
The ex-servicemen
The open-minded
Changes in post-MBA destinations…
Since 2008 there’s been a massive shift away from the Investment Banking world – it’s actually rare now that we find a post-MBA’er who wants to get into a straightforward IB role.
The next trend? Of course, the big three strategy houses are hoovering up this higher echelon of talent. To this day there’s still a very liberal scattering of McKinsey, Bain and BCG at the major schools, and many end up returning to these companies. There may have been a slight dip, but this trend looks set to stick around for some time yet.
Then we had the Apple, Google and Facebook generation of MBAs. At milk round, the interest in these companies was palpable - there was almost an expected approach for at least a 3 month internship for the top business schools.
A new trend emerging…
It’s now clear that there’s an obvious hunger amongst MBA students to get into start-ups – a trend that looks set to stay for a while to come.
Take a walk around London’s Silicon roundabout and you’ll see ex-consultants and bankers strolling into work at VC-backed, early stage start-ups. They’re applying their MBA skill sets to fast-growing businesses that are rising up every day. It’s incredibly self-fulfilling for these early- stage entrepreneurs, who are often looking to work in a start-up to gain experience in setting up their own business... and so the cycle continues.
It’s an exciting world that lends itself well to the holistic skill set that an MBA provides, and it’ll be fascinating to see what bigger businesses do regain that MBA talent. As it stands, the world of the start-up has created a huge pull for the major business schools.
It you’d like to make your mark in a budding start-up, get in touch! Our Experienced Hire team have some great roles up for grabs, give us a call or drop us an email.
