M.B.A.s Seek to Occupy Wall Street

10.11.2011. Financial-services industry hiring at the big Master of Business Administration programs hit a post financial-crisis high this year. Employers such as banks, hedge funds, investment managers, private equity and venture capital firms hired 39% of job-seeking 2011 graduates at Harvard Business School and the Yale School of Management, 36% at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and 51% at Columbia Business School.

Even in an age of heavy layoffs, shrinking bonus pools and noisy antibank protests, it is no mystery why M.B.A. students keep entering the revolving door that is Wall Street. It pays well and carries considerable prestige. But those getting jobs in finance will be entering an industry undergoing a massive belt-tightening, as investors flee banks hammered by a weak economy, tumultuous markets and tightening regulation. The crunch could dim hiring prospects for the next wave of M.B.A. graduates – and crimp promotion opportunities down the road.

That math helps to explain why banks and other big firms continue to hire even as they try to squeeze costs. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which this week reported its second quarterly loss in a dozen years, has said it may cut 1,000 jobs or more. Bank of America Corp. has said it plans 30,000 job cuts over the next few years. New York City's securities industry faces the loss of nearly 10,000 jobs by the end of 2012, New York state's comptroller has predicted, a blow to the area's economy and government budgets. Trimming the existing work force doesn't preclude companies from hiring new talent, but some schools say they're seeing at least the beginnings of a pullback.

Further information: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203752604576643492700615456.html?KEYWORDS=melissa korn#

(Quelle: The Wall Street Journal)