Post-MBA careers: More Finance, Less Industry...

Just got back today from Bombay, ending my 4 1/2 month travels before I start my MBA at LBS this August. I ended up traveling to Brazil, Ecuador, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and India. If anyone is interested about the cost of traveling for 4 1/2 months: I burnt about $9K and used up 90K in frequent flier miles. As for my plans of a pre-MBA internship, that never materialized. Traveling is just too much fun, it's very hard to start thinking about work once you're on the road. To anyone considering pre-MBA travels, I highly recommend it. It also allowed me to meet up with 8 of my future classmates around the globe.

Anyways, to the topic of this post. There's a very interesting Employment Report (2007) which LBS publishes on its website. It reveals some interesting stats. Looking at data from 2003 and 2007, it seems like more and more MBAs go for Finance at the cost of Global Industry. Here's the breakdown of post-MBA employment by sector:



Why is that? The average starting salary per sector might explain this. In 2007, the average starting base salary including year end bonus for LBS grads in Financial Services was about $183K, compared to "just" $139K for Global Industry. Also, the average sign-on bonus of $48K in Financial Services is juicier (vs $24K for Global Industry, exactly the half). Simply put, graduates are going to where the money is.

More interesting data: If you ever wondered how many people actually switch careers after their MBA, the report also casts light on this (showing where people came from for each of the three sectors).

I personally plan to go into Global Industry as my post-MBA goal. You probably make as much as in Financial Services - on an hourly basis.

Update: Given the financial crisis and downturn in the economy, the trend described will most likely reverse for the class of 2009. Go Industry!