The economic crisis hit MBA recruitment particularly hard as major players Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns collapsed, financial giants Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Bank of America slashed hiring, and big employers of MBA grads like Johnson & Johnson and Kraft cut back as well.
However, despite all of the doom and gloom MBA placement statistics have remained relatively strong, largely because firms that had not traditionally recruited on MBA campuses like Apple, Inc., Amazon.com and IBM sensed the opportunity and starting hire more MBA graduates. This has resulted in a more diversified job market, where mid-sized companies, government institutions and educational groups can pluck prized MBA talent.
In the meantime, hiring by major financial firms has been surprisingly stable – but there has been a shift in hiring across various departments and geographic regions. There has also been increased MBA hiring by hedge funds, boutique and mid-sized financial services firms.