Corporate recruiters go back to school

By Della Bradshaw - Financial Times

Published: June 4 2007 03:00 Last updated: June 4 2007 03:00

Industrial companies have traditionally favoured hiring "second-hand" MBAs - those who have cut their teeth in banking or management consultancy and want to move on. Now, this is changing.

In spite of recent concerns in the business school world that MBA degrees do not teach students skills that companies need, recruiters are increasingly giving the professional services firms a run for their money when it comes to recruiting newly minted MBAs directly from business school. These days companies such as BP, BT, Google, Pepsico, Samsung and Shell are names as familiar on the business school campus as investment banks and management consultancies.

The change came with the classes that graduated in 2002 and 2003. Following the terrorist attacks in the US and subsequent economic uncertainty, management consultancies and bankers slashed staff numbers and stayed away from business schools. Industrial companies saw their chance.

... BT is not the only company recently to commence an MBA recruitment programme. In the past two years, Ericsson and Nike have introduced MBA recruitment programmes in Europe, says Katty Ooms, director of MBA admissions and career services at IMD, where 70 per cent of the graduates enter the corporate world...

To read the full article please refer to: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7749d366-1238-11dc-b963-000b5df10621.html