A new survey finds that MBA students from top firms are naming more technologies firms as their most-desired places to work, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
The survey, from employer-branding consultant Universum, found that tech firms – specifically Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon – comprised four of the top 10 most-desired employers when students from top schools were asked to pick up to five ideal employers from a list of 170.
This represents a rise in popularity for these firms, the Journal reports. No. 9-ranked Amazon.com Inc. was chosen by 10.6 percent of students this year, compared to 6 percent in 2008, for example. At the Seattle-based online retail giant, many MBA graduates take roles as operations managers and financial analysts. “We’ve hired hundreds of MBA students over the past year and expect to hire hundreds more in the year ahead,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
Nonetheless, consulting firms still hold quite a bit of sway. About 29 percent of students named McKinsey & Co., which took the top spot. Bain & Co. and the Boston Consulting Group were also in the top 10. Major banks, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, continue to be top draws, even though opportunities in sales and trading functions at these types of firms have decreased. As a result, some career counselors say more students have been gravitating toward smaller firms, such as hedge funds and private-equity firms, according to the Journal report.
Russ Hagey, world-wide chief talent officer for Bain & Co., says he has seen increased competition for students. “Top talent is thinking about their résumé and about where they’re going to be challenged and excited, which I think might explain some of the tech companies on the list,” he told the Journal.
The Universum survey included responses from 6,297 business-school students from 72 schools between December and March. At the request of Journal, Universum narrowed the responses to 1,028 from students attending 10 highly ranked schools.
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