Columbia Business School: Employment Report

The finance sector remains the industry destination of choice at Columbia Business School, attracting 35% of graduates in 2014.

However, this figure represents almost a 3% drop from the figure recorded in 2013. This has allowed consulting – which took 34% of graduates this year, up from 30% in 2013 – to stand almost neck and neck with the finance sector.

Consulting up as finance sector loses ground among class of 2014

The consulting sector’s rise this year is more apparent if sponsored students returning to their pre-MBA employers are excluded (applicable to 86 students in 2013 and 94 in 2014). In this instance, the number of graduates taking positions with new employers in the consulting industry this year is 26%, up from 20% in 2013. The finance sector is down from 43% to 40% by the same token.

This same trend is visible when looking at the functional roles undertaken by Columbia’s class of 2014. This year 40% took MBA jobs with a consulting function, up from 35% in 2013. Finance sector functions are down to 30% in 2014, from 33% last year.

Within the realm of the finance sector, investment banking/brokerage continues to be the most popular path. Even so, the 16% of Columbia’s class of 2014 taking jobs here is down from 19% last year.

Salaries pertaining to the top two industries at Columbia Business School show no signs of change. The median salary for investment banking is given as US$100,000, just as it was last year. The same is true for consulting’s biggest bracket (strategic/management) which holds the 2013 level of US$135,000 for median salary.

MBA jobs in tech sector show slight gain

Elsewhere, much has been written about the relationship between graduates seeking and taking MBA jobs in technology as opposed to traditional sectors, such as finance.

Stanford and Harvard posted notable decreases among those heading into the tech sector from the class of 2014, but most other leading institutions reported rises in this area.

This was also true at Columbia Business School. The half percentage point gained by the tech sector in accounting for 13.7% of its class of 2014 may not be as significant as the swing to consulting, but we can double it if we exclude sponsored students in the manner outlined above to give a rise from 15% in 2013 to 16% this year.

Within the tech sector, as has been the case at other US schools, e-commerce and internet services have lured the most Columbia graduates – 7.5% in 2014, up from 6.6% last year. Again, the median salary here of US$115,000 is exactly the same as it was a year previous.

As with the finance sector, manufacturing also hired fewer Columbia MBAs this year. In 2014, 5.9% of the class took MBA jobs in manufacturing, down from 6.5% last year. Excluding sponsored students, this entails a more notable fall - from 9.1% in 2013 to 6.4% now.

A similar fall can be seen in marketing, which is the function for 7% of MBA jobs in 2014, down from 9% in 2013.

Finally, at the lower end of industry proportions from Columbia Business School’s class of 2014, twice as many graduates this year took MBA jobs with nonprofit, education or government organizations. Of course, the rise from 1.1% in 2013, to 2.3% in 2014 is from a very small base, but the median salary applicable here also grew – from US$87,000 to US$93,000.