Tech jobs have been a popular choice for MBA candidates since the early 2000s – gradually becoming one of the top three career paths that many business school graduates pursue (along with consulting and finance). In this analysis, we take a closer look at which leading MBA programs managed to place their graduates into tech industry jobs in 2023 despite the overall decline in tech industry hiring. We also review recent trends in MBA graduate hiring at Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft (aka Big Tech).
Technology Industry Job Placement for the MBA Class of 2023
The following chart highlights the percentage of Class of 2023 full-time MBA graduates who accepted a technology industry job, as reported in the Class of 2023 employment reports for 23 leading MBA programs.
Among Class of 2023 MBA graduates who accepted jobs, Foster (39%) sent the highest percentage into tech industry jobs, followed by Haas (30%), Tepper (29%), Anderson (26%), Sloan (24%) and Stanford (24%). Note that four of the six business schools sending the highest percentage of graduates into tech industry jobs are located on the U.S. West Coast. This should come as no surprise given the concentration of ‘Big Tech’ firms and venture-backed start-ups located there.
The business schools sending the lowest percentage into tech industry jobs are located on the East Coast. They include Kenan-Flagler (12%), Johnson (11%), CBS (11%), Darden (11%) and Yale SOM (10%).
Since the MBA programs vary by class size, it is also helpful to review the total number of MBA graduates accepting tech industry jobs (noted in parentheses).
Larger MBA programs such as HBS (92), Wharton (86) and Booth (77) sent the most MBA graduates into tech industry jobs while Kellogg sent 65 and CBS sent 59. In addition, smaller MBA programs such as Sloan (70), Anderson (69), Haas (68), and Fuqua (59) also sent a large number of graduates into tech industry jobs.
Decline in Tech Jobs Hiring for MBA Graduates of the Class of 2023
There has been an overall decline in tech industry hiring in the past year and MBA graduates have been impacted as well. Fifteen of the 23 business schools reported a decline in MBA graduates accepting tech industry jobs from the Class of 2022 to the Class of 2023. The exceptions were a handful of business schools such as Sloan (+2%), Yale SOM (+2%), Tuck (+3%) and Kelley (+8%) who reported an increase:
Since MBA programs vary by size, it is helpful to review the change in the total number of MBA graduates who accept technology industry jobs from each of these 23 MBA programs. Large MBA programs like CBS, Kellogg and Wharton posted the biggest declines, followed by McCombs, Stanford GSB and Anderson. Tepper and Kelley posted the largest gains.1
The most common factor cited for the slowdown in tech industry hiring is that the big tech firms over-hired during the pandemic in anticipation of consumers spending more time online. As pandemic restrictions eased and consumers returned to in person activities in 2022, the Big Tech firms began to trim their staff. Given the recent decline in tech industry jobs accepted, it will be interesting to see if tech industry hiring stabilizes for the MBA graduates in the Class of 2024 and 2025.
Big Tech Analysis (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple)
Among MBA students and MBA applicants seeking a tech industry career, there is a lot of demand to work at leading ‘Big Tech’ firms such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple. These large tech firms hire MBAs to fill a variety of positions including product management and logistics roles as well as more traditional corporate roles in strategy, finance or marketing. Of the 23 MBA programs covered in this article, only seven business schools specifically publish the number of Class of 2023 MBA graduates who have accepted jobs at these Big Tech firms.
While only seven MBA programs publish tech company specific job placement data, we have enough to note some MBA hiring trends for these tech firms based the seven MBA programs that share their firm-specific data.
For example, of these seven MBA programs reporting ‘Big Tech’ job placement data for Class of 2023 graduates, CBS (35) placed the most, followed by Sloan (29), Kellogg (28), Booth (26), Fuqua (23) and Ross (19). Stern is farther back with 14 Big Tech jobs accepted.
Looking at the overall Big Tech job placements trends among MBA graduates of these seven MBA programs, there was a 36% collective decline in Big Tech Jobs accepted from the Class of 2022 (271) to the Class of 2023 (174). This is a sharp decline compared to the relatively stable 258 – 287 Big Tech jobs accepted per year for the MBA graduates of these seven MBA programs for the Class of 2019 through the Class of 2022.
To account for the difference in class size across these seven MBA programs, we will now compare the Big Tech jobs accepted by MBA graduates in the Class of 2022 vs. the Class of 2023 as a percentage of total tech industry jobs accepted by these graduates.
While tech jobs accepted at one of the four Big Tech firms (Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple) still represent over 33% of the tech jobs accepted among Class of 2023 graduates (for the seven MBA programs that report company-specific data), six of the seven MBA programs are showing a decline in the number of Big Tech jobs accepted as a percentage of the total tech jobs accepted by the Class of 2023. This suggests that the Class of 2023 MBA graduates seeking tech jobs ended up accepting posts outside of the traditional Big Tech companies. Only CBS reported an increase in Big Tech jobs as a percentage of total tech jobs accepted.
Job Placement at Amazon
Now we will review the Amazon job placement data from the seven reporting business schools.
Of these seven MBA programs, Amazon hired the most Class of 2023 graduates from Sloan (20), followed by CBS (18), Booth (17), Kellogg (15), Fuqua (12), Ross (12), and Stern (10).
Amazon is the largest tech industry employer of recent graduates for leading MBA programs. For example, Amazon hired over 20% of the MBA graduates accepting tech industry jobs from these seven MBA programs.
When reviewing the Amazon jobs accepted by recent MBA graduates of these seven MBA programs over the past five years, you can see that Amazon dramatically reduced its hiring from 160 in the Class of 2022 to 104 in the Class of 2023, a 35% decrease. In addition, this figure of 104 hires is Amazon’s lowest total number of MBA hires from these seven MBA programs in the last five years, as seen on the chart below:
Job Placement at Google
Next, let’s take a look at Google MBA hiring at these seven MBA programs:
Google hired just 37 Class of 2023 MBA graduates from these seven MBA programs, a 43% decline compared to 66 hires from these seven MBA programs in the Class of 2022. While Google did hire 14 CBS graduates, Google only hired 6 from Kellogg, 5 each from Booth and Fuqua, 3 each from Sloan and Ross and one from Stern.
By hiring 14 CBS Class of 2023 MBA grads, Google provided 24% of the total tech jobs accepted in the CBS Class of 2023. In contrast, Google provided 9% or less of the total tech jobs accepted by the Class of 2023 MBA graduates for the other six MBA programs.
More broadly, after providing 60 – 70 jobs/year across these seven MBA programs from the Class of 2019 to the Class of 2022, Google dramatically reduced its hiring to just 37 in the Class of 2023, a 44% decline from the 66 MBA graduates Google hired from these seven MBA programs in the Class of 2022.
Job Placement at Microsoft
Next, we review Microsoft hiring at these seven MBA programs:
Microsoft has been a less active MBA recruiter than they were several years ago. Among these seven MBA programs, Microsoft only hired 4 Class of 2023 graduates from Kellogg, 3 each from Booth, Fuqua and Ross, and 2 each from Sloan, CBS and Stern.
Given Microsoft’s reduction in hires from these seven MBA programs, it is not a surprise to note that Microsoft jobs represent 7 percent or less of the total tech jobs accepted at these seven MBA programs.
As we can see in the chart below, Microsoft jobs accepted from these seven MBA programs have declined from 44 in the Class of 2019 to just 19 in the Class of 2023.
Job Placement at Apple
Now we will review Apple’s hiring at these seven MBA programs:
Apple has traditionally hired fewer MBA graduates from these seven MBA programs than their Big Tech peers. Among the Class of 2023, Apple hired four from Sloan, three each from Fuqua and Kellogg, followed by one each from Booth, Ross, CBS and Stern.
Given Apple’s small number of MBA hires from these seven MBA programs, it is not a surprise that Apple hires make up 6% or fewer of the tech jobs accepted from these seven MBA programs.
In addition, Apple has reduced its hiring from these seven MBA programs from 24 in the Class of 2019 to just 14 in the Class of 2023.
In summary, among the 23 MBA programs covered in this article, larger MBA programs, such as HBS, Wharton and Booth, sent the most MBA graduates into tech industry jobs while Foster, Haas, Tepper, and Anderson had the highest percentage of Class of 2023 graduates accepting tech jobs.
There has also been an overall decline in tech industry hiring in the past year. Fifteen of the 23 business schools reported a decline in MBA graduates accepting tech industry jobs from the Class of 2022 to the Class of 2023, including Stanford GSB (-6%), Wharton (-6%), and HBS (-3%).
Among the seven MBA programs that share firm specific hiring data, Big Tech jobs remain popular as over 33% of tech jobs accepted by Class of 2023 graduates from these seven MBA programs were at 4 Big Tech companies. While there was a collective decline in Big Tech jobs accepted by Class of 2023 graduates of these seven MBA programs compared to the Class of 2022, we expect that tech industry hiring of MBAs will begin to stabilize for the Class of 2025.
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- Tepper’s tech job placement from the Class of 2022 to the Class of 2023 grew by 17 (47%) while its percentage of graduates accepting Tech Industry jobs is virtually unchanged (28.1% vs. 28.6%). This is because Tepper grew its overall Class of 2023 class size by 64% and the 45% growth in Tepper Class of 2023 MBA graduates accepting jobs was similar to the 47% growth in the Tepper Class of 2023 MBA graduates accepting tech jobs. Similarly, Kelley grew its Class of 2023 class size by 79% (68 students) and the number of Kelley Class of 2023 graduates who accepted a job offer grew by 66% (51 students). In addition, Kelley grew the percentage of graduates accepting tech jobs from 13% in the Class of 2022 to 21% in the Class of 2023.
