Fewer MBAs graduate with jobs

In past years, nearly all Wharton MBA graduates reported full-time job offers by October following their graduation, according to the program’s Career Management Office. But for the class of 2009, the numbers aren’t looking too good.

Only 83 percent of the MBA students who graduated in the spring reported having been offered a full-time position when surveyed this fall. By comparison, about 95 percent of the classes of 2005 through 2008 were employed full-time by the fall.

“Wharton is not immune to recession,” said MBA Career Management Director Michelle Antonio.

In the face of the weak economy, companies now have fewer resources to invest in On-Campus Recruiting and have fewer hiring needs, she explained.

“But the number you’re looking at is only a snapshot of time,” Antonio pointed out. “It doesn’t tell the whole story.”

Educational Consultant and Admissions Strategist Steven Goodman agreed.

There are two things to consider when looking at the numbers, he explained: future job prospects of these students and “how other top business schools are doing.”

While 17 percent of Wharton MBAs had not gotten a job offer by September, Antonio said, “the Career Management Office is now getting e-mails and calls from students, saying that they got job offers from different start-up [companies] and hedge funds.”

“We continue to hear success stories,” she added.

Goodman called the phenomenon a “short-term frustration” because graduates “won’t have the job as fast as they would like but they’ll find the same quality jobs [eventually].”

The “time frame to get your dream job is protracted,” but “our students continue to pursue what they want,” Antonio added.

Other business schools — like Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business — are seeing drops as well, but “Wharton and its name brand is holding up exceptionally well,” according to Goodman.

Stanford Graduate School of Business, for example, reported that 93 percent of its class of 2008 had job offers, but the same held true for only 75 percent of the class of 2009.

Still, the recession is pushing many students to lower their standards post-graduation employment.

For example, first-year MBA student Kevjorik Jones said while most people want paid internships, “many are prepared to take unpaid ones to get experience.”

Second-year MBA student Stefanus Hadiwidjaja said he is applying for firms in Southeast Asia, and as a result the U.S. job market does not affect him as much as it affects those applying to U.S. companies.

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