5 Questions With: Kristen Fitzpatrick, Harvard Business School’s Senior Managing Director Of Career & Professional Development

Kristen Fitzpatrick is the managing director of Career & Professional Development at Harvard Business School. At HBS, she helps students and alumni navigate their careers and prepare for their future post-grad. She has nearly two decades of experience in career development, team leadership, and talent management, and has worked with students, alumni, and employers to build meaningful career paths and develop talent.

Today, Fitzpatrick focuses on helping MBA students explore their options, connect with employers and alumni, and build their skills and confidence in an ever-changing job market.

P&Q: What do graduates say from student and alumni surveys gave them the biggest return?

Fitzpatrick: One of the things consistently noted is the value of the relationships students build at HBS, with classmates, alumni, faculty, career coaches, and the broader HBS community. From a career perspective, those relationships can be incredibly powerful. Students benefit not only from formal recruiting opportunities, but also from conversations with alumni and peers who can help them explore industries, understand different career paths, make connections, and identify opportunities they may not otherwise have considered.

Alumni also appreciate the lasting value of learning how to navigate a career, rather than simply a job search. We give students the tools and confidence to make thoughtful career decisions, while helping them build relationships that support them at HBS and throughout their professional lives.

P&Q: How does your school help students identify, pursue, and land the right career opportunities in today’s ever-changing job market?

Fitzpatrick: We think the career journey is a process that begins with exploration and continues throughout the job search and well beyond graduation. Students come to HBS with very different experiences and goals, so our approach is intentionally multifaceted.

HBS Career & Professional Development (CPD) provides one-on-one career coaching, career exploration and industry programming, job-search education, opportunities to engage with employers, alumni connections, and a robust set of digital resources and tools. Students can explore industries and functions, assess their skills and interests, strengthen their resumes and personal narratives, prepare for interviews, build relationships, and develop a search strategy that works for their individual goals.

That individualized approach is particularly important in today’s market. Career paths are increasingly nonlinear; recruiting timelines vary significantly by industry; and technology, especially AI, is changing both how organizations hire and how candidates conduct a job search. We want students to be equipped not just to respond to today’s market, but to adapt as the market continues to evolve.

P&Q: What do employers say they need from MBA or business graduates now? How does that differ from a few years ago?

Fitzpatrick: Employers continue to value the fundamentals they have long sought from MBA talent: strong analytical and problem-solving skills, leadership ability, communication skills, collaboration, and the ability to operate effectively in complex organizations.

What’s evolving is the premium employers place on adaptability. Organizations are navigating rapid changes in technology, AI, business models, and the broader economic environment. They need leaders who are comfortable with ambiguity, can learn quickly, exercise sound judgment, and understand how to use emerging technologies effectively.

Specifically with AI, companies want leaders with practical experience actually creating and using AI models or bots, which our students have a chance to do during their time here.

However, increasingly, it’s not simply about having a particular technical skill. Employers are looking for people who can combine business judgment, leadership, and human skills with an understanding of how technology can be applied to solve problems and create value.

P&Q: How does career services get involved once students arrive/declare: What types of tutoring, tech tools and other support do they receive from the outset? In a nutshell, what does the school do to ensure that students don’t fall through the cracks and are successful?

Fitzpatrick: Career support begins as students arrive at HBS and is woven throughout their experience. Early in their time here, CPD helps students understand the career landscape, reflect on their goals and strengths, and develop a foundation for making informed decisions. This support evolves as students move from initial exploration to more focused career planning and action.

Career exploration and job searching looks different for every HBS student. A student who is still considering potential career paths needs something very different from someone preparing for an interview or negotiating an offer. We therefore provide multiple ways for students to engage with us, depending on their goals and where they are in the process.

Technology is a fundamental part of that support. We provide digital resources that help students research opportunities, identify relevant organizations and contacts, prepare application materials, and manage their searches more effectively. We continue to explore how AI can make career exploration and the job search more personalized and efficient while complementing, not replacing, the value of individual coaching and human connection.

Our role is to create multiple points of engagement, so students know where to turn—whether they need intensive one-on-one support, a quick answer, an introduction to a new industry, or resources they can access independently.

P&Q: Alongside alumni, how does career services connect students with employers? What types of programs support outreach to employers?

Fitzpatrick: We have a dedicated employer engagement team that builds and maintains relationships with organizations across industries, functions, geographies, and company stages. Those relationships allow us to understand what employers are looking for, while creating a wide range of ways for students and organizations to connect.

This includes traditional recruiting channels, such as job postings and interviews, as well as company presentations, networking events, industry-focused programming, educational sessions, and more targeted opportunities for employers to connect with students.

We also recognize that MBA recruiting extends well beyond companies with large, structured recruiting programs. Our team works to develop relationships with organizations that may hire only a small number of candidates or may be engaging with HBS talent for the first time.

Combined with the reach of the HBS alumni network, this helps students access opportunities across established companies, startups, nonprofits, and other organizations around the world.

Ultimately, our goal is to create an ecosystem in which students can discover opportunities through multiple channels—employers, alumni, classmates, programming, technology, and their own proactive outreach—rather than relying on any single recruiting pathway.

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