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High Technology High on the List of Career Choices for Harvard Business School's Class of 2000
BOSTON -- For the 858 members of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2000 who headed for new jobs after graduation last June, there were no greater attractions than career choices related to high technology and telecommunications, be they in start-ups or large corporations. Thirty-four percent of the Class headed in that direction -- up from 20 percent in 1999.
Smaller companies were also a big draw. Twenty percent of the new Harvard MBAs joined organizations with 25 or fewer employees, and more than 33 percent went to work at companies with 100 or fewer employees.
With courses on entrepreneurship more popular at HBS than ever before and the School's annual business plan contest a hotbed of new enterprises, many students jumped right from the classroom into their own ventures. Twelve percent of the Class of 2000 have founded companies - a number that has climbed considerably over the past decade, from just half of one percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 1999.
In the midst of a rapidly changing marketplace, an array of financial and professional service firms attracted large numbers of newly-minted Harvard MBAs. Twenty-four percent opted for positions in management consulting; sixteen percent chose venture capital, private equity, leveraged buyout, or incubator firms (up from 12 percent last year); and 11 percent took jobs in investment banking (a category that also includes sales and trading).
Salaries continued to go higher as well. The median total compensation package for members of the Class of 2000 - a figure that conservatively includes only base salary, sign-on bonus, tuition reimbursement, and guaranteed year-end bonus - totaled $130,000, up from $120,000 last year. The median base salary increased from $90,000 to $100,000.
As in previous years, starting salaries were low on the list of motivators when the time came for students to decide on job offers. In fact, almost half of the members of the Class did not go with the position that offered them the most money. Ranking far ahead were job content and level of responsibility; people/company culture; location; opportunity to expand experience; industry; and growth potential.
When it came to job location, the big winners were New York City (21 percent), Boston (18 percent), and the San Francisco Bay Area (18 percent). Fourteen percent of the Class took advantage of opportunities abroad, with 8 percent of them residing in Europe.
"Looking back over the past several years," notes Linda Carrigan, Director of Career Services, "there have been dramatic shifts in the marketplace for MBA talent, as well as the ways our students search for their careers. Yet despite these changes, HBS remains true to its longstanding mission to educate leaders as general managers. Our graduates continue to be valued by Fortune 500 companies and leading professional organizations around the world, and are equally respected by emerging enterprises in the new marketplace."
For online information from Harvard Business School's MBA Career Report 2000, go to www.hbs.edu/career_services on the HBS Web site.