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What's a B-school grad to do when Wall Street stops hiring?

By Sarah Kliff, Sarah Ball and Katie Paul | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 16, 2008 | Updated: 4:49  p.m. ET Sep 16, 2008

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  • Posted By: didimau @ 01/30/2009 11:59:16 AM

    Business school and what they teach is what is wrong with this country. Greed!
    http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/politics_pop/index.html

  • Posted By: eprn17 @ 09/17/2008 6:10:04 AM

    "Particularly affected are the big-name schools that funneled graduates into Lehman, Bear Stearns and other storied institutions." So Wall Street has been populated by graduates of the top schools in the nation? If the debacle we're witnessing was brought about by people who were supposed to have had the best possible education, doesn't that suggest that we should begin to question whether universities are really the only reliable source for people who can do the job? I'm not questoining the value of education, but suggesting that this insistence that every job requires at a minimum a college degree is possibly wrong-headed. The role of business in the modern world grew and developed on the strength of men who learned in the field, not necessarily in a school. They may have had some edcuation, but they didn't need an MBA before they could attempt to do what they wanted to do. If recent financial crises are an example of the kind o f MBA-thinking produced by business schools, then we should question the value of their product and maybe re-think how we prepare people to enter the business world.

    • Posted By: cajademierda @ 10/07/2008 6:42:38 PM

      The problem is the power and prestigue we give to the finance people. Finance is a skill. To some degree it has value, and companies need it. But companies also need people that understand their products and can improve them (top engineers/scientists) and they need people who know how to sell their products (top marketing people) and they need people who know how to produce their products efficiently (manufacturing engineers). All these jobs (and others) are just as critical and require just as much inteligence as the finance jobs on wall street but all of them pay a lot less and all of them are a lot less likely to get you to the CEO level. In my opinion that needs to change.

  • Posted By: ceosuck @ 09/17/2008 1:43:10 PM

    This is to problem with Corporate America today. The so called "educated" grads from tony schools such as Harvard, Yale, MIT etc. are the demise of Corporate America today. What made them so capable of stepping into the business world with only theories and "business plans". It is very rare to find companies that prompt from within anymore, gone are the days of "working your way up". I am sorry but I find is offensive that a twenty somthing can graduate one of these so called institute of higher learning and think they can manage people. They have no real world experience and base decisions on theories that obviously don't work.

    • Posted By: cajademierda @ 10/07/2008 6:25:24 PM

      Yes and no. There are a lot of companies that promote from within at least to a certain level, and a lot of companies that hire from elsewhere, but get people who've really worked their way up elsewhere. Very few twentysomethings are holding a C-level position in a company they or their parent's didn't personally help found. That said, I, like you, am troubled by the degree to which kids straight out of MBA school get fast tracked when they really have little knowledge about the company. Most of the ones on the fast track are pretty well connected though, and nepotism has sadly been a factor in hiring for top jobs for a very long time. Only now, they are required to have an MBA. This is all part of a correction for how this country overvalues finance professionals. In my opinion its long overdue. Let some of these wallstreeters go find something productive to do.

  • Posted By: ming888 @ 09/19/2008 1:36:00 AM

    To Wildechild 66 - look for a job with the Federal Government or a regulatory authority. These would appear to be the growth sectors in the forseeable future.

  • Posted By: cooned @ 09/17/2008 10:03:41 AM

    The students coming out of these universities may be high achievers, but that doesn't make them moral or responsible . Wall St is crumbling because it is run by people looking to make a quick dollar. Nobody really cares about tradition and doing things the right way. All these big investment companies knew that the housing market was a house of cards, I could have told you that 4 years ago when I saw people buying bigger and bigger houses that they couldn't afford with ARM mortgages. These people were banking on the fact that value would increase, but when everyone is becoming more and more stretched how will the prices continue to rise? The fact that the banks now are collapsing doesn't matter to all the people who made millions or billions in the boom years. They do not care abt the investments and lives ruined, all they care abt is what's in it for them. The same mentality can be seen by most Dr's today. Most are more drug salesman than someone who cares about your health.

    • Posted By: brian.roberts @ 09/18/2008 12:08:55 PM

      To "cooned" - by your logic the greedy people in the investment banks that profited from all this loss are the same people at LEH that have 5-year lock-ups on their stock compensation (a majority of most investment bankers' bonuses and compensation) and watched it all go to zero. Many of these people will be forced to declare personal bankrupcy, so don't be so quick to blame EVERYONE on wall street. There are guilty parties, but not everyone involved in this came out with a Scrooge McDuck room full of money to go swimming in.

  • Posted By: ceosuck @ 09/17/2008 1:47:58 PM

    These so called Bschool Grads are the cause of the downfall of Corporate America!! What makes them think that after 3 or 4 years of theories and business plans they can make decisions in the real world!! Gone are the days of working your way up through the company ranks and earning your position based on hard work and results. Now if you have an MBA from MIT, Harvard, Yale etc congratulations your hired as the new CEO. Obviously all these wonderful theories taught in business schools don't work and the result are CEO and top management making piss poor decisions. I am going to tell my son and daughter don't waste your time in Bschool, become a plumber they make more money and keep their dignity!!

    • Posted By: brian.roberts @ 09/18/2008 12:01:06 PM

      To "ceosuck" - you are woefully uninformed about finance in America. First of all, this article is about the investment banking industry and both undergraduate and graduate business majors. These graduates are never "hired as the new CEO" of anything, unless they create the business themselves. It baffles me how stereotypes in this country are inflated to absurd proportions as people believe their opinion on a certain matter is the end-all, be-all. There are obviously greedy and ill-natured people in finance and business (and nearly all indutries for that matter), but that does not mean that every investment banker wants to steal money from your grandmother. Many want to help businesses access capital so they can grow, hire more employees and help the economy and communties around them. Please think about your harsh criticism before taking it to extremes.

  • Posted By: wildechild66 @ 09/18/2008 11:27:14 AM

    This is a little scary for me, as a college student. Thankfully, I'm not graduating right away, but the fact remains that I will likely graduate into a pretty hostile job market, as will the majority of my friends. What are we supposed to do now?

  • Posted By: phiomalibumalibu @ 09/17/2008 5:56:59 PM

    There are many savvy businessmen and IT guys who basically designed all the systems and made most of the base economic desicions to help companies prosper in the 90's. Those same folks are currently unemployed because their jobs were offshored and they were replaced. These are bright, progressive, and stong folks with a handle on economic technology. Unfortunately, in order to save costs, CIO's have let them go during the past 8 years, and yes offshored or hired college grads to replace them.

  • Posted By: cbdempsey @ 09/17/2008 12:08:53 PM

    As a recent B school grad I can sympathize with students whose dream it was to pursue a career in the field of their choosing, i.e., investment banking or finance, but this glut of finance myopic recent grads is merely an extension of the irresponsible, overhyped, world of smoke and mirrors that is finance in this country. I purposely chose not to go into finance because of the obvious bubble that was forming in the not too distant past! The majority of B school grads that did focus on Finance are generally in it for the wrong reason. To jump on the bandwagon of the under-regulated, overheated and shady industry that was built on top of the housing bubble. If they learned anything in business school, they should have realized this!

    I have had a steady stream of interviews, and job offers since graduating in August. There is no reason that someone with an MBA, who was in it for more than money, should not be able to find a great job. Unfortunately for the finance majors, they probably did not have enough time to study Chinese (or any other language), are unfamiliar with operations and marketing, cannot or will not consider working in another industry or country, and will continue to follow the heard desperately searching for a job in finance. It is now said that not being specialized is now the most valuable specialization. If they didn't have $$$ signs in their eyes throughout B school they should have realized this!

  • Posted By: topcat2001 @ 09/16/2008 7:15:39 PM

    Line up all the Rethugs and shoot them dead. After 8 years in the Whitehouse and having a Rethug majority for 6 of the last 8 years in Congress they have the gall to tell us it is someone else's fault. You had your chance and its only idiots who will give you a second chance. But we have enough idiots in this country that they will believe whatever the Rethugs say.

    • Posted By: Texas-conservative @ 09/17/2008 11:57:13 AM

      Look at the people who run Fanie Mae...former Clinton associates. Look into Barney Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Garelick.
      Bush tried to push a bill for an overhaul of the mortgage laon indistry in 2003, and McCain tried to push legislation that put more oversight into governmentally sponsored businesses (Fanie/Freddie)...both were shot down by the dems (Barney Frank et al.) who said that there was plenty of oversight in place and that Fannie and Freddie were stable.

      Do some homework before you accuse Republicans or being at fault.

  • Posted By: SkineezFree @ 09/17/2008 11:40:15 AM

    Although I can sympathize with these young professionals losing their jobs and those dissapointed interns, I cannot feel too sorry for their highly groomed and stroked egos.
    Maybe they should try to re-enter the business world from a "ground-up" level like the rest of us "B" school graduates, and learn some real-world business skills. I can assure you there are plenty of jobs out here for business professionals willing to leave the glass tower.

  • Posted By: Philbert @ 09/17/2008 10:43:37 AM

    Surely Newseek realizes that there are far more majors in business schools than just Finance, right? Operations, marketing, enterprise information systems, business admin, etc. all prepare students to succeed across a broad spectrum of industries. The majority of B-School grads will be minimally affected by the current crisis in the financial sector because they weren't headed to Wall Street in the first place..

  • Posted By: thewonder30021 @ 09/17/2008 10:27:31 AM

    I think this is awesome. As a small town kid from a heavily militarized southern california (see: no opportunity in the job sector but service and if you're middle class -- community college) I find it absolutely awesome that all my silver spoon peers who got to hike through europe and scuba dive in tahiti after getting out of USC get to feel the heat a little beat. We've been feelin' it for a good time now. Long live the resistance.

  • Posted By: thewonder30021 @ 09/17/2008 10:26:54 AM

    I think this is awesome. As a small town kid from a heavily militarized southern california (see: no opportunity in the job sector but service and if you're middle class -- community college) I find it absolutely awesome that all my silver spoon peers who got to hike through europe and scuba dive in tahiti after getting out of USC get to feel the heat a little beat. We've been feelin' it for a good time now. Long live the resistance.

  • Posted By: jack4rep @ 09/17/2008 7:30:10 AM

    Hey we all are to blame not just government. We knew the risk of these new financial products and gambled so get over it.

  • Posted By: TheVigil @ 09/16/2008 10:06:02 PM

    I feel bad for any business school grad who genuinely wanted to make a difference and worked hard to do so.

    I *don't* feel bad for the ones who wanted to jump out of school into a high-paying, high-powered job without ever having put in any work on the ground floor or without having any empathy for the rank and file. There are a lot of those in business school.

    In college I wanted some fun one quarter and tried to take intramural *inner-tube* water polo. I figured, how can anyone take this seriously? It's INNER-TUBE WATER POLO. I figured people would sit in the inner tubes, splash around, use the "sport" as an excuse to make asses of themselves in the pool, and generally enjoy the experience.

    Not the business school grads. They came in like it was a military operation - grim, bent on wiping out the other team (and any hope of relaxation or fun), and they would capsize your tube to get you out of the way if it meant a goal for them, and they did, repeatedly. They won in a rout against our mismatched team, but it was hard for me to feel like they really "won" anything. We certainly didn't have any fun getting capsized when the ref wasn't looking, and it was hard to feel like they were having fun either. It was just another enemy to vanquish, another inferior opponent destroyed - on to the next one, mechanically and almost by rote, in the domination of the intramural inner-tube season.

    Well, they can have it. That experience has probably taught me more about American business attitudes than anything else.

    Personally, I hope that particular mindset capsizes along with the rest of Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, and all the rest of the corporate devourers more intent on eating their opponents alive than contributing genuine improvements to the American economy.

  • Posted By: 95661 @ 09/16/2008 7:11:00 PM

    So the MBAs on Wall Street who for years have been telling American business what they should do to maximize profit and stockholder value at the expense of worker, jobs and communities are finally realizing that their "advice" and "expertise" was all just a bunch of hot air. Our business schools kick out thousands of MBAs every year that have never worked in a factory or on a retail floor yet investment firms hire them, give the title of analyst and let them voice opinions about a company's business practices. Yet all they know how to do is crunch some numbers and look at statistical trends. How accurate was there analysis about the mortgage market?

    Wall Street needs to change and start understanding that there are many of successful company's in America that make money every year, provide jobs that fuel the economy and are otherwise financially sound. Yes, there stock price may not be climbing by 10-15% per year (i.e. Anheuser Busch) but they help anchor our economy. And maybe America's Business Schools need to stop focusing on sending their graduates to Wall Street and instead get the to work on Main Street USA so our businesses can become re-energized.

  • Posted By: Ron Paul For Pope @ 09/16/2008 6:45:48 PM

    I hope we as a country can pull together and figure out how to outsource these jobs, so that greedy f***s like these are thrust into grinding poverty forever.

    We put men on the moon. I'm sure we can do this.

  • Posted By: xeyeldinTX @ 09/16/2008 5:08:52 PM

    Wallstreet, unfortunately, is now being hit by the realities that have hit every industry sector from manufacturing to tech.

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