Tech Hiring Remains Unsteady In 2025. What That Means For MBAs About To Graduate

If 2023 and 2024 were the years tech hiring fell back to Earth, 2025 is proving that gravity still has a hold.

The tech sector is stumbling through another year of caution, contraction, and recalibration. Layoffs are continuing at a steady clip — with more than 23,000 workers let go across 93 tech companies so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. That’s after a brutal 2024, in which more than 152,000 tech workers lost their jobs.

TrueUp puts the 2024 global layoff total even higher, estimating more than 260,000 roles eliminated, including 15,000 at Intel, 14,000 at Amazon, and 12,500 at Dell.

For business schools — and especially their freshly-minted MBAs, who are weeks from graduation — the implications are hard to ignore.

‘GOING TO HARVARD IS NOT GOING TO BE A DIFFERENTIATOR’

At Harvard Business School, 23% of job-seeking Class of 2024 MBA graduates were still looking for work three months after graduation — more than double the figure from just two years ago. “Going to Harvard is not going to be a differentiator,” Kristen Fitzpatrick, managing director of MBA career and professional development at HBS, told the Wall Street Journal last fall. “You have to have the skills.”

That stark reality is being felt well beyond Boston. At UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business — long a feeder school to Silicon Valley giants — tech’s dominance is waning. For the first time in more than two decades, consulting overtook tech as the top industry for Haas grads in 2024. Across top schools, the pipeline to FAANG companies — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google — and adjacent stalwarts has narrowed, with many firms either freezing MBA hiring or cutting internship spots altogether. Duke Fuqua School of Business has seen its tech placement drop 15 percentage points since 2021.

The slowdown is being felt most acutely by international students and career-switchers, who often rely on MBA internships to pivot into tech. But all feel the pinch: European B-schools like London Business School, INSEAD, and IESE have also experienced significant declines. “It looks like we’re headed into a tough economy in general right now,” one such career switcher, a Wharton MBA, told P&Q last year, “and so it’s not just the students from a non-traditional background or first-gen or low-income background who need to be wary.”

The weakening of the B-school-to-tech pipeline predates the current industry implosion. According to data from the Graduate Management Admission Council, Gen Z — the youngest members of the workforce — are less likely to consider careers in tech, as women and underrepresented U.S. candidates drift away from the sector in greater and greater numbers. Consulting remains the favorite industry for all B-school grads, with tech fast fading as No. 2.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. Even amid the layoffs, demand for MBA talent remains strong — just not in the same roles as before.

Business schools say MBA job opportunities remain strong in areas like AI, data analytics, cybersecurity, and enterprise software — particularly among mid-sized companies and high-growth startups. As large tech firms slow their MBA hiring, smaller players in the SaaS (Software as a Service) space are stepping up, looking for grads who can work across functions like product development, operations, and finance.

Artificial intelligence is dominating the conversation — every conversation — and that’s a big opening for techies coming out of B-school. As companies scramble to embed generative AI tools into their operations, there’s growing demand for MBA talent that can translate complex technologies into strategic business value. Grads who can speak both the language of engineers and the expectations of executives are quickly becoming indispensable.

SCHOOLS PIVOT TO MEET THE MOMENT

To meet the moment, business schools are evolving — fast. Many have launched new AI concentrations, added coursework in digital transformation, and expanded partnerships with tech employers. At Wharton, for instance, the MBA program now offers a major in Analytics, with elective pathways in AI and machine learning. At Darden, a new AI Institute is exploring the ethical implications of large language models and the changing nature of work.

Schools are also leaning more heavily on alumni networks, tapping into smaller tech firms and adjacent industries like fintech, edtech, and healthtech.

But perhaps the biggest shift is in mindset. “Big tech is laying people off and pausing hiring,” one observer writes on LinkedIn. “A lot of MBAs would find a home there. Startups often don’t prioritize MBA hires unless they’re willing to get into sales and marketing.”

OPPORTUNITY FOR THOSE WHO ADAPT

The turbulence is real. But so is the opportunity — for those who can adapt.

MBAs still bring strong value to organizations navigating complexity, scaling fast, or transforming from within. The key, recruiters and advisers say, is to show up with skills, not just a pedigree.

As Fitzpatrick of HBS puts it: “The MBAs who thrive in this environment are the ones who understand their value — and know how to communicate it.”

DON’T MISS TECH’S WOES CRYSTALLIZED IN DUKE’S 2024 MBA JOBS REPORT and NEARLY 1/4 OF JOB-SEEKING HARVARD CLASS OF 2024 MBAs COULDN’T FIND WORK AFTER MONTHS OF SEARCHING