October 23, 2002
Nearly 90 percent of MBA grads find jobs despite weak job market
A more personalized job placement program has led to nearly nine out of 10 University of Washington Business School master’s in business administration graduates obtaining jobs within three months — surpassing the average at the nation’s so-called Top 30 business schools.
The new placement efforts, which include student-employer “fireside chats,” appear to have have helped graduates facing what many are describing as the worst MBA hiring climate in more than 10 years. According to Business Week — which recently released its biennual ranking of the top 30 graduate business schools — on average only 70 percent of those schools’ MBA graduates had job offers by graduation and 80 percent had found employment 90 days after that.
In comparison, nearly 90 percent of UW’s MBA graduates found career-track positions by September, according to Dan Poston, executive director of master’s programs.
“Through a vigorous effort by people throughout the university and the community,” Poston said, “we placed 56 percent of our graduates by June commencement and 88 percent by September — a better showing than last year.”
The UW Business School fell just three percentage points in job placement numbers behind the list’s top school, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Kellogg placed 91 percent of its MBA graduates by summer’s end, according to Business Week.
In April 2001, the UW’s placement had been down more than 60 percent from the norm because of a regional economic slump that persisted in 2002.
During the summer 2002, UW Business School faculty, staff and alumni embarked on a program to increase personal connections with potential employers. The effort, led by the UW Business School’s master’s programs office and the Business Connections Center, included offering a toll free hotline linking employers and alumni to students; holding “huddles” to help students develop individualized career plans; accompanying students when they met with potential employers; and matching graduate’s skills with available positions.
Dean Yash Gupta also personally reached out to business leaders on graduates’ behalf.
“We always help our graduates find employment in their chosen field,” Gupta said. “However, with this current economic climate we recognized that we needed to take extra steps to ensure that the opportunities to find employment were available to our graduates.”
The efforts may also have improved the school’s national standings. The UW Business School moved up in Business Week’s list of its top graduate schools that appears in the Oct. 21 edition. The UW jumped from the magazine’s third tier to its second, a group of 20 schools that narrowly missed being listed in the top 30. The rankings are based on student and recruiter satisfaction.
“The good news is that our numbers show that we are up to par with the rest of the nation’s top graduate schools,” Poston said. “And the fact that we moved up shows that our MBA students are pleased with the program and the job opportunities after graduation.”
The UW Business School’s master’s in business administration program is the largest in the Pacific Northwest. The program educates nearly 300 MBA (including executive education) graduates each year.
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For more information contact Gupta at (206) 221-5749 or ygupta@u.washington.edu Poston at (206) 685-8395, or dposton@u.washington.edu Naomi Sanchez, Business Connections Center director, at (206) 543-3689 or naomiks@u.washington.edu Ann Mamallo, director of employee relations at (206) 685-4720 or mamallo@u.washington.edu
For more information about the UW Business School MBA program visit http://depts.washington.edu/mba/
For more information about business student career services see http://depts.washington.edu/bschool/career/
Companies that have recently hired UW MBA graduates:
Air Handling Systems International
Alaska Airlines
Alliance of Angels
Amazon.com
AT&T Wireless
Bank of America
Berk and Associates
The Boeing Company
Boeing Realty
Bombardier Transportation
Capitol One Bank
Delafield and Hambrecht, Inc.
Deloitte & Touche ERS
Deloitte Consulting, Japan
Eli Lilly & Company
Fluke Corporation
Ford Motor Company
Front Porch Classics
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
GE Capital
Intel Corporation
Johnson & Johnson
Lehman Brothers
MBA Enterprise Core
Medtronic, Inc.
Microsoft Corporation
Museum Quality Framing, Inc.
One Reel
PCC Structural
Philips Medical Systems
Planar Systems
REI
Saltchuk Resources Inc.
Samsung
Schnitzer Northwest Meadows
Scotia Capital
ShipLogix
Starbucks Coffee Co.
Strider Capital Management
Super Feet
TMP Worldwide
Union Bank of California
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Virginia Mason Medical Center
Vote Here
Washington Mutual, Inc.
Wells Fargo & Company
