18 Percent of Most Recent Harvard MBA Graduates Employed in Tech Industry

Like many of her peers, Luciana Baigún began her career in consulting before coming to Harvard Business School last fall to pursue an MBA.

But while on a trip to India prior to starting business school, she had a “bit of a revelation” about what she wanted to do with her career after noticing the way people there used cell phones to make payments.

This summer, Baigún is working as an intern at Amazon.com and plans to go into the technology industry—not back into consulting—after graduation.

Baigún intends to join the ranks of a rapidly increasing number of MBA students pursuing careers in technology after they attend Harvard Business School. According to preliminary employment data for the Class of 2013, a total of 18 percent of this spring’s graduates are employed in the technology field. In comparison, 12 percent of the Class of 2012, 11 percent of the Class of 2011, and eight percent of the Class of 2010 went into the technology industry following graduation, according to finalized numbers for those years.

Catherine R. Hutchinson, associate director of MBA Career and Professional Development at the Business School, said that while she could not pinpoint a reason for the trend, she has observed significant interest in the technology industry among job-seeking Business School students. In particular, she said, the product-based, hands-on nature of the field could be attractive to MBA graduates.

Baigún, who is co-president of the Business School’s TechMedia Club, said she believes technology has become “more interesting” for MBA graduates in recent years. She added that some MBA students who enter the field have a background in technology even before they enroll in business school.

“Your graduates have different skills, and they have different interests, and the tech sector is really good at leveraging those skills and interests,” Baigún said.

The preliminary employment numbers, which were recently released by the Business School, also reveal that the median base salary for this spring’s MBA graduates, at $120,000, is the same as the finalized figure for the Class of 2012. Although preliminary data released last summer found the median base salary for the Class of 2012 to be slightly higher—$125,000—it fell to $120,000 after the data was finalized in the fall.

In addition, 15 percent of the Class of 2013 had not yet received job offers as of graduation, compared to 11 percent at the same time in 2012, according to Christine Van Dae, manager of market intelligence at the Business School. She called the data a “snapshot” of the employment status of MBA graduates.

The Business School will be collecting data from graduates until the end of September and likely post an updated version of the data in October or November, according to Van Dae. She said the Business School uses the data to help students understand what to expect when they are looking for jobs.

—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.