Top Industries & Their MBA Recruiting Timelines

Recruiting for financial services (in non-banking roles) puts you on par timeline-wise with consulting and the earlier consumer products companies. As a first-year, you’ll spend November and December networking, applying, and interviewing, with most offers coming in around January or February. Smaller players also do some hiring in March and April, so if you don’t land with one of the big companies, don’t panic yet.

For full-time roles, there’s a huge trend towards extending offers to interns, but not much predictability beyond that — financial services companies hire year-round. So, it’s probably best to spend the time focusing on the companies that you like best, and finding out their specific timelines by visiting their company page on TransparentCareer and clicking your desired position. We’ll show you a visual offer timeline of every position within the firm.

 

Investment banking — as one of the most venerable and coveted post-MBA careers — also happens to be one of the most standardized in its recruiting structure. It’s simple, really, as a first-year, you decide ASAP that you want to head into banking. Then you spend October, November, and December networking (a lot…bring those suits!), interviewing, and wining and dining. By January, you’ll have an offer, a few (if you’re lucky), or you’ll come up empty-handed — in which case you’ll still have plenty of time to recruit for other industries.

Banks tend to hire their interns, so you’ve got a great shot of landing a full-time gig as long as you perform. Beyond that, there’s really not much re-recruiting in IB. Less than 10% of full-time offers come in October and November.

Companies hiring MBAs into the CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry typically adhere to on-campus recruiting timelines, similar to consulting or banking. The major difference here is the variability of the timing. While the overwhelming majority of consulting offers come in within a month of one another, CPG internship offers can happen as early as October or as late as June. The major players (Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Kraft-Heinz, MillerCoors) extend internship offers in midwinter.

It’s clear that CPG companies prefer a strategy of hiring their interns back for full-time roles. Indeed, some hiring managers have told TransparentCareer that they prefer to bring back 100% of interns and not step foot on campus for full-time roles. That said, there is a generous spike of offers in November, typically a result of companies addressing roles left unfilled due to interns turning down full-time offers.

This article was originally published on TransparentCareer’s blog. Kevin Marvinac is cofounder & COO of TransparentCareer, the largest career research and recruiting platform built specifically for MBAs. He lives in Chicago with his wife and mischievous puppy.

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