Crisis In Harvard As 23% MBA Students Remain Jobless After Graduation: Report

The slowdown in the job market appears to have affected the most prestigious Ivy League institutes. According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, at least 23 per cent of job-seeking Harvard MBA students who graduated last year were still looking for a job, three months after leaving the campus. The unemployment rate among fresh graduates has increased steadily in recent years with 20 per cent unable to land a job in 2023 and 10 per cent in 2022.

The trend extends beyond the Harvard Business School (HBS) with other elite business schools such as Stanford, Wharton, and NYU Stern also reporting some of the weakest job-placement rates.

"We're not immune to the difculties of the job market. Going to Harvard is not going to be a differentiator. You have to have the skills," explained Kisten Fitzpatrick, who oversees career development and alumni relations for HBS.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft have reduced MBA recruiting, as have consulting firms, the report highlighted. To salvage the situation, Harvard is now testing an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can compare job seekers' resumes with their preferred roles and recommend online classes to bridge skill gap.

While the job market is bad, students who have lowered their expectations have managed to find jobs unlike those still waiting for the top firms to come their way.

"Most of my friends who tempered their expectations were able to land great positions. HBS students (are) self-selecting out of certain jobs that may be seen as a 'step down' from their roles before the MBA despite them being perfectly great well-paying jobs," an unnamed HBS MBA student was quoted as saying by Forbes.

"HBS students tend to come from wealthier families and backgrounds that can stomach a few months of unemployment."

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Why the slowdown in jobs?

After the Covid-19 pandemic and especially in the last couple of years, companies have accelerated their pursuit of efficiency. They are rethinking their organisational structures, focusing on leaner teams, and placing greater emphasis on specific technical skills over generalist business knowledge.

Traditional MBA programmes may not align with these values as most graduates tend to generalisation which means they can be replaced by those with non-traditional but technical credentials. The advent of AI) has further made the job market complex with substantial layoffs and job eliminations being a regular feature in the market.