A Powerhouse For MBA Career Placement

This fall, we at Tuck shared exciting news on the employment success of our graduates: For the second year running, Tuck had the highest rate of accepted jobs at three months post-graduation among top-ranked business schools. Specifically, 98 percent of the class of 2021 received a job offer within three months of graduation.

As executive director of Career Services at Tuck, I’m often asked how we’re able to consistently match our students with the opportunities they want post-graduation. Many elements come together to help Tuck students achieve their unique career aspirations, including our personalized approach to career services and our famously loyal alumni network. Here’s what makes our approach to career services distinct.

The size and caliber of our team.

Tuck has arguably the highest ratio of advisers to MBA students among our peer schools. Our well-resourced team means we can get to know students and their career journey intimately—students are encouraged to drop by our office, shoot us an email, or grab coffee with us anytime. We know how critical one-on-one career coaching time can be for our students who come to Tuck with very unique career aspirations. Beyond size, our career advisers are industry experts who join Tuck with significant field experience in the industries they represent. Not only this, but many of them are alumni themselves who are personally familiar with Tuck’s recruiting and interview process.

Our alumni network is famously loyal.

If you know anything about Tuck, you know that our school is renowned for its loyal and accomplished alumni network. Named the world’s most responsive alumni network, our over 10,000 alumni lead the firms our students wish to join as professionals post-Tuck. The dedication of alumni to the career success of students shows up in myriad ways—from coming back to campus to deliver career recruiting events to simply picking up the phone and opening their network rolodex to connect them with the right people. As an alum myself, and now having witnessed this altruism on the other side as a staff member, I can say without a doubt that the pay-it-forward culture at Tuck is very real.

We have strong relationships with our recruiters.

We’ve spent years cultivating close relationships with recruiters from not only the big-name companies everyone knows—Google, Amazon, Bain, McKinsey, Nike—but also those smaller, early-stage companies and startups where you can really make an impact. In all, our recruiter network spans over 1,000 companies—and the list continues to grow.

Our recruiters love to hear from us. When recruiters, alumni, and visiting executives come to campus, they too are immersed in the Tuck community. They come with intention, and, because of our environment, they spend a considerable amount of time with students. (It’s not like they are running to other meetings in the city!) And with the massive growth in virtual connections, it’s easier than ever to access our network across continents and time-zones without having to miss class.

You can build on your passion and customize your career pathway at Tuck.

Tuck boasts six centers with specific industry focuses: the Center for Business, Government & Society, the Center for Digital Strategies, the Center for Entrepreneurship, the Center for Health Care, the Center for Private Equity and Venture Capital, and the Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability and Innovation. Beyond curricular and co-curricular opportunities, centers often work in tandem with Career Services to extend career support and offer resources in students’ specific areas of interest. An example might be connecting students with career mentors in our alumni or practitioner community. In addition to Centers, many students take advantage of our career-focused student clubs which host career chats, help bring industry leaders to campus, provide networking opportunities, and help students prepare for recruiting.

“We want to hire a Tuckie.”

Lastly, it’s not uncommon for our team to hear from recruiters, alumni, and others that they would specifically like to hire a Tuck MBA grad. They know the institution well, and they know the skills a Tuck grad will bring to the table. These are the kind of anecdotes I love to hear as the director of Career Services, and I think they speak to the quality and culture of our MBA program. Simply put, the world’s top companies want to hire Tuck MBAs.

Learn more about the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Stephen Pidgeon T’07, executive director of Tuck Career Services, joined Tuck in 2010 from McKinsey in London where he focused on health care consulting with a functional specialty in organizational design. He is the author of the bestselling books How to Get A Job In Consulting and Case Interviews for Beginners. Before attending Tuck, Stephen directed and produced multiple television series and a movie.