Move over Wall Street, MBA Graduates Flock to Tech Companies: MBA News

MBA graduates in the US are increasingly eschewing the big finance firms on Wall Street in favor of pursuing careers with tech companies, according to new data compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

By collating the career paths of MBA graduates from the ‘Class of 2013’ at thirteen leading US business schools, the figures indicate a notable rise in the attraction of tech companies and a decline in the traditional dominance of the finance sector over the past two years.

For example, the proportion of MBA graduates at Stanford Graduate School of Business taking up positions with tech companies has risen from 13% in 2011 to 32% in 2013, while its numbers for those entering the finance sector has fallen from 36% to 26% in this time.

At Yale School of Management it’s a similar story, with tech companies drawing 16.8% of its MBA graduates this year, as opposed to just 7% two years ago. Yale’s finance sector figures have also dropped – from 39% in 2011 to 25.4% this year.

Finance sector losing its appeal?

Of course, this latest comparison still shows that the finance sector is recruiting MBAs in large quantities in the US – its noteworthiness comes more from highlighting the rapid expansion within the technology sector – something that was also revealed, on a global scale, in last month’s QS TopMBA.com Jobs and Salary Trends Report.

As well as the sector’s expansion, there are a couple of other reasons why MBA graduates might opt for Silicon Valley over Wall Street. Firstly, superficially at least, it seems like tech companies offer a greater work-life balance, dress code is often informal as are the offices themselves – Google even has slides at many of theirs, for instance in Zurich.

Tempting though that might be, there are more serious enticements as well. At tech companies MBA graduates often have the freedom to carve out their own project and make a personal impact. This is topic that the Wall Street Journal covers in its write up to the new data, pointing out that graduates are willing to accept less in terms of salary for the greater opportunities they perceive in technology. In addition, tech recruiters are very skilled in the art of persuading MBAs as to these opportunities, creating powerful presentations using their technology expertise.

As regards the finance sector, much of its relative decline can be explained by the aftereffects of the financial crisis, but companies are renewing their strategies on the basis of the expected economic recovery. Some of them have already been implementing a more informal working environment through the introduction of schemes such as ‘causal Fridays’.

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