Who are the 22% of GSBers who graduate without a job?
So, I just dropped $180k on an MBA at the GSB. I spent two years deeply reflecting on what I want to do with this one short life of mine, building an arsenal of LinkedIn connections and scouring the alumni database late into the night for targets for my devastating cold-call emails.
Then, late in Spring quarter, my Mom called me:
Mom: “So, have you got a job yet?”
Me: “Umm, nope.”
I wondered, am I alone in this “what to tell my Mom” conundrum?
I found unexpected solace in the 2018 GSB Employment Report. Last year, a third of the graduating GSB class was not looking for work because they were sponsored or founding their own company. Half the class had accepted a job by graduation day. And a whopping 22% of the class had not accepted any job by graduation day.
So, who are the 22%? A highly scientific polling via Blast email reveals five main segments:
1. The Just In Timers: If you’re a procrastinator or took Base Operations, you know that sometimes it makes sense to wait until the last minute. Consulting and investment banking firms secure their pipeline of MBAs well in advance. But other companies and startups take a more “Benihana” style approach to their MBA inventory management, cooking up roles as the need arises. The Career Management Center website optimistically labels this “The Opportunistic Track.” Such opportunism requires a tolerance for uncertainty that one might not expect at a school where it is common practice to send out calendar invites for a beer with friends four weeks in advance. As MBA2 Stacey Christiansen describes it, “I’m choosing the light stress of being unemployed but also choosing to do nothing about it”.
2. The Holder-Outers: For some students, it’s about holding out for the right opportunity. Fifteen percent of GSBers looking for jobs in Spring quarter last year had at least one offer by graduation but hadn’t accepted any. The question is, what’s waiting around the corner- a better fit or a fictional amazing offer that never arrives? One GSB student has an offer from a company that is not her first choice, and is in the recruiting process with several others. She notes, “The question is: do I accept an offer to a place I’m not as excited about, or graduate without a job? Even though it’s not my favorite company, it feels a little bit risky to decline. I’m nervous that the energy and motivation I have now will disappear”.
3. The “Beyond the Wall” Adventurers: The GSB campus is a great place to recruit for the Silicon Valley ecosystem and well-known firms. But for students seeking their fortunes in other industries and geographies, all roads do not lead to Palm Drive. MBA2 Ainsley Daigle plans to work in the music industry in Los Angeles after the GSB. She says, “I feel like I’ll be able to find more success when I actually move to the city and can do in-person meetings. I’m very confident that I want to be in that industry, and I believe I’m going to make it happen one way or another.”
I want to live and work in my home country of New Zealand after school, which is even further away than LA, so I am in this category as well.
4. The Patient Pivoters: For GSBers aiming to pivot to a new industry, the recruiting process can be slow and challenging. For international students, there are added complexities of negotiating visa deadlines and a new recruiting environment. Davit Rukhadze, an MBA2 from Georgia, is seeking to move from finance to technology: “I’ve definitely gone up the learning curve, and now that I feel like I know what to do, the chances of me not finding a job by the Optional Practical Training visa deadline in September are low. But the fact that I’m waiting to hear back from a bunch of companies is stressful. I want to spend my time and energy in this final period at the GSB with my classmates, but the job search is interrupting that a bit.”
5. The Post-school d.schoolers: Classic design-thinking methodology suggests starting with a wide net, sketching out multiple hypothetical life plans in stick figures, and then honing in on what resonates most. Eli Bildner, MBA 2017, took five months out to collect information and talk to people before deciding to build his own nonprofit, online college Concourse Education. He reflects, “I think there’s the moment where you know logistically what you’re going to do, and then there’s the moment where you’ve made an emotional choice about what you want to do that’s connected to your identity. Once you’re out of school you hear your own voice in a way that’s hard to do in school, because there’s a shouting chorus of social expectation.”
In the GSB world, where the metaphorical town square is a literal town square in the middle of campus, the shouting chorus can be loud. The social pressure of having something cool and exciting to say, or just something to say at all, when someone asks you what you’re doing after graduation, can be substantial.
But this could be a temporary feeling. Paul Harraka graduated in 2018 without a job, took a month off and then started job hunting, ultimately deciding to do a search fund. He says, “The reality is, we’re GSBers in a great economy, so there are plenty of great jobs out there. It’s better to spend a bit of extra time and find the thing that’s great for you. No matter what job you end up in, there will be parts about it that you love and parts you hate, and you’ll learn a lot along the way.”
So maybe being part of the 22% is not a sign of a failure, but a badge of honor. In the words of MBA2 and likely 22%-er Tania Siska, “The biggest gift the GSB gave me is the confidence I now have to take the road less traveled”.
…that’s what I think I’ll tell my Mom.
