MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 26 Dec 2008
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: In retrospect....
[#permalink]
22 May 2011, 12:22
As someone who has been out of b-school for 10 years (yikes), what rhyme and others have said is spot on.
One thing to keep in mind about traditional vs. non-traditional: work visas.
One of the reasons why the "traditional" recruiters are well, traditional and suck up a big chunk of the class at all top b-schools is the immigration issue.
At US b-schools, around 33-50% of the class are internationals (i.e. those who aren't US citizens or green card holders). So if they want to stay in the US post-MBA, they need an employer to sponsor them for an H1 visa (assuming they aren't married to an American).
And the traditional MBA recruiters are usually most willing to sponsor internationals without batting an eye. They hire MBAs by the boatload, and whose HR departments are very very well versed in the ins and outs of the byzantine US immigration system which can even confuse a theoretical physicist with a PhD from MIT. (Aside: if you've ever had to bring as part of your medical check up and records your chest X-ray film to the consulate because they require you to do so, you'll start to wonder what the point of it is -- what is an immigration officer going to do with an X-ray of your chest?)
So with 33-50% of the class (and most wanting to stay in the US post-MBA at least for a few years), that's a huge chunk of the class who feel their efforts are best spent going after employers that are most willing to sponsor them (and even then, it's really limited to consulting, financial services, and technology firms. Consumer products companies don't like sponsoring internationals typically and it may be a matter of company policy for these firms; tech firms will sponsor MBAs but may be more gun shy than consulting firms, since tech firms want to allocate as much of their H1 visas to hiring technical folks; leadership development programs and general mgmt jobs also don't always want to sponsor internationals).
Once you go to the "non-traditional" route within the US, it becomes very hit and miss. A lot of non-profit foundations for example won't sponsor internationals. Non-traditional MBA industries like sports, entertainment, advertising, fashion, gaming, etc. aren't as familiar with MBAs in their workplace in the first place, and asking them to sponsor you for an H1 may only make it harder. Doesn't mean it's impossible to get sponsorship from firms in non-traditional industries - it's just a harder sell, and very hit-and-miss that will depend on the individual firm in question.
And when you're an international faced with a huge debt to pay off, it can be the most practical thing to suck it up, work for the evil McKinsey Death Star, (cue Star Wars music) for a few years so you can pay off at least a good chunk of that debt, gain some solid experience and branding on your resume before taking off. It's a lower stress way in an environment of risk averse MBAs while you're still in school to just take the M/B/B or whatever traditional job, rather than what can be perceived as the "needle in the haystack" that is non-traditional MBA industries especially for internationals.
Which leads to another point. Even for those without real work visa hurdles (i.e. EU nationals going back to Europe, Americans working in the US, Asians going back to Asia), at least from my experience and what I've heard from so many clients over the years -- most people in b-school aren't expecting their first post-MBA job to be their ideal job.
A lot of MBA students in school hear enough stories from recent grads who move on within 1-2 years. So in a way that is what they're anticipating and expecting to happen. Whether it's selling your soul to Bain or being a greedy banker at Morgan Stanley, most expect their first post-MBA job to be a transitional thing. It's a "I'll take this job and then go from there" as opposed to "I've arrived baby!".
After 5 years or so (and seeing what has happened with many of the MBAs of my generation who graduated 10 years ago), a lot more of us end up in what is called non-traditional MBA land anyhow. In fact, I would say most of us don't work at the big name MBA factories. Some are in consulting, but work in small boutiques (or have their own). Some are in finance, but work at very small funds or shops. Or they have their own business, or do something completely unrelated to what they ever expected. And it's all okay.
My main point is, don't feel compelled to HAVE to go the non-traditional route immediately after b-school. It's certainly a road worth pursuing if you have the opportunity to right away, but don't feel that just because you end up in a traditional job, you'll be "stuck" or "trapped" there forever. In fact, chances are you'll be out of there within 1-2 years, and most likely within 5 years.
In the end, most of you probably won't become fabulously wealthy, but you'll be somewhat comfortable and more importantly probably happier than you expect -- but that happiness probably won't be what you believe it to be now (and it won't be centered around your career either even if your career paradoxically will probably turn out just fine).
Disclaimer: I went the non-traditional route right after b-school working at a VC-backed animation studio. Looking back, I was extremely lucky to have stuck to my guns and gone the non-traditional route -- I purposely avoided the meat grinder MBA factories like consulting and finance and never had to resort to doing that at all, but I don't think everyone else needs to do the same thing I did either.