What Bank Of America Seeks In MBA Hires

BOA Headquarters in Charlotte, NC. Learn about Bank of America MBA hires

BOA Headquarters in Charlotte, NC

Could you give us an overview of your MBA recruiting and interview process? What are the steps that students should expect? How can they stay on your radar?

The traditional process is that we’ll have a campus presentation at one of our target schools. Then there will be an application deadline that is, many times, dictated by the school. Then, we’ll have first round interviews and then have a second round interview process.

In terms of staying on our radar, it’s around meeting as many people as you can and being sure you are cultivating relationships, so that the first time you walk into an interview is not the first time you have connected with our company.

When it comes to banking and financial services, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that students may have about your organization (and your industry)?

I can’t speak for the students directly. What I can do is share what we can offer them. They are going to have an opportunity to work in an environment where they will be challenged and have the opportunity to work with the best-and-brightest. This is true about this whole industry. There may be a little of what people might call aggressive. I think it’s competitive, but it’s very collegial – working as a team to meet the needs of our clients. There’s the opportunity to work with people who are the best at what they do.

What are your expectations for entry level MBAs? What are your most successful new hires doing to hit the ground running and quickly add value?

The majority of our full-time hires are sourced from our summer intern programs. A good chunk of our full-time hires had started with us [as interns] which means they’ve already had the opportunity to build strong relationships. They come with an understanding of what the job is, in terms of day-to-day, so their focus is continuing to nurture and build those relationships and making sure they are continuing to hone their skills. We offer a lot of training and development so if people feel they may be deficient in a particular area, there are training sessions available to them so they can build their skill sets. Again, it’s really about building relationships and understanding what your strengths and development areas are. In those development areas, we have lots of people to help you close those gaps.

Curious about Bank of America MBA hires ? Read about BOA CEO Brian T. Moynihan

BOA CEO Brian T. Moynihan

You earned your MBA at the Ross School of Business. How has that experience informed how you evaluate and recruit MBAs?

If you think about Wall Street professionals, you think of three or four schools…When I think about Ross, it provides a great supply of talent. What that says to me is that we cannot be myopic in our view about where we look for talent. We need to be very broad in our reach to attract candidates. We have to find innovative and creative ways to build our MBA talent pipeline. We can’t physically get to every school, but we want to make sure we leverage technology and are finding talent that might not come just from the schools we visit.

What excites you about working for Bank of America?

Personally, Bank of America is a magnificent place to work. It’s not all done. You’re coming in and really helping to build something. I have the opportunity to work with really smart, bright, motivated individuals who are saying, “We are part of taking this company to the next level.” And that’s pretty exciting. So there is an entrepreneurial spirit that comes from being part of a team that’s helping to move an agenda forward. Being part of a company that’s not #1 or #2 in everything – but in the top five – and helping to move the ball down the field to the end zone – it’s pretty exciting to be part of that.

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