Big Jump In Tech Hires At Kellogg

29 KELLOGG MBAS STARTED THEIR OWN COMPANIES OUT OF SCHOOL

This year, 29 Kellogg MBAs started their own businesses–roughly 5% of the Class of 2014–while another 16 graduates accepted jobs with startups. Another 31 students in the Class of 2015 did their summer internships with startups this year, a likely sign that the trend toward tech and startup companies will continue next year.

“We have so much emphasis on entrepreneurship now,” says Gasche. “The 29 students who started their own companies is a reflection of 50-plus businesses and great ideas. In the summer when your feet hit the fire with the thought of having to pay off your debt, it falls off. Students have to be assured that it is something that will sustain them for at least six months to a year. Still, there is a ton of interest in startups and new businesses, and the startup culture is healthy enough in Chicago that students are finding lots of opportunity. We hope to see those numbers move up.”

HOW KELLOGG CAREER CHOICES DIFFER FROM THE M7 SCHOOLS

When you contrast the career choices of Kellogg MBAs with those of other rival business schools, several things stand out: 1) The high percentage of graduates who go into consulting, 2) The high numbers of MBAs regularly placed in consumer products, and 3) The low percentage headed toward Wall Street (see table below).

Kellogg now sends more than twice as many graduates–as a percentage of the class–to consulting than Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Only one other prestige school matches Kellogg and that is Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business which also sent 35% of the Class of 2014 into the consulting market.

Similarly, consumer products have long been a mainstay of the school. This year, with 11% going into the consumer product field and another 3% plus going into retail, Kellogg has continued to build on its reputation in marketing. The school is producing more than twice as many MBAs for this sector as Harvard Business School or Columbia Business School.

How Industry Choices In 2014 Compare Across the M7 Schools

Industry	Kellogg	Harvard	Stanford	Wharton	Chicago	Columbia*	MIT
Consulting	35%	23%	16%	26%	28%	34%	34%
Finance	14%	33%	29%	36%	36%	35%	14%
Technology	18%	17%	24%	14%	14%	12%	26%
Consumer Products/Retail	14%	7%	8%	10%	8%	6%	11%
Healthcare	6%	5%	4%	6%	2%	2%	6%
Manufacturing	5%	5%	1%	2%	2%	1%	3%
Energy	2%	2%	2%	2%	3%	——	2%
Media/Entertainment	1%	3%	4%	2%	2%	2%	2%
Non-Profit/Government	1%	3%	6%	2%	2%	2%	—–
Real Estate	1%	2%	2%	2%	1%	3%	—–
Starting A Business	5%	8%	17%	7%	2%	3%	7%

Source: 2014 school employment reports

Notes: * Indicates that the school includes sponsored students in its numbers. If Columbia subtracted out the sponsored students in consulting, for example, the percentage going into that industry would fall to 26% from 34%. Some categories are not always exactly the same across the schools.

Consulting has held fairly steady through the past four years of Kellogg’s career data, having had a big 10-percentage point rise in 2011 when it went to 37% from 27% in 2010. Otherwise, technology has had the biggest most recent increase, up a full six percentage points in the past year to a record 18% this year. Besides finance, healthcare, manufacturing and energy is also slightly down over the past five years (see table below).

Major Industries Chosen By Kellogg MBAs From 2010 to 2014

industry	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
Consulting	35%	36%	35%	37%	27%
Consumer Products	11%	10%	11%	11%	14%
Financial Services	14%	20%	20%	19%	16%
Technology	18%	12%	13%	11%	12%
Healthcare	6%	4%	6%	6%	9%
Manufacturing	5%	4%	5%	4%	8%
Media/Entertainment	1%	2%	—–	1%	1%
Non-Profit	—–	1%	—–	0%	1%
Energy	2%	2%	1%	2%	3%
Real Estate	1%	2%	1%	2%	1%
Other	6%	6%	7%	7%	9%

Source: 2014 Kellogg Employment Report