Three months after graduation, nearly 87 percent of University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business full-time MBA students had a job. These graduates accepted positions in a variety of industries and at a range of top companies including Adobe, Cisco, Facebook and Microsoft. And thanks to Haas’ close connection with Silicon Valley, 38.8 percent were in technology.
“The on-campus experience at Haas was top-notch, but the off-campus potential for networking put it over the top. From Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 100 companies, the Bay Area is a great place to make the connections that are critical to landing the right job post-MBA,” a Haas alum recently told told Forbes.
Haas & Silicon Valley
One of the Haas School’s main employment draws is Silicon Valley. In fact, the school has many strong ties to technology leaders from top companies in the Bay Area. For example, Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone currently serves as a Haas Executive Fellow. Other technology experts that have spoken at Haas include Guy Kawasaki, Former Apple Chief Evangelist, Ed Catmull, Pixar President and Co-Founder and John Chambers, CEO and Cisco Chairman.
These connections along with the Berkeley-Haas Executive Fellow program offer MBA students a unique launchpad for careers in technology. Not only do top senior executives at these companies speak at Haas, but they also actively recruit there.
Haas@Work
The Haas@Work program connects faculty, students and companies through project-focused courses, membership-based activities and various other initiatives. The goal of the program is to help organizations enhance their competitiveness and innovation while also preparing Hass graduates to lead this change and prepare for life after graduation.
Through this program, Haas MBA students have the opportunity to address significant business challenges for a select group of companies including PayPal, Hewlett Packard, PG&E and more. It’s a term-length project with groups of 10-15 students following a proven innovation methodology. Throughout all phases of the project, students work with company executives, faculty and their classmates to address their client’s business.
“Haas@Work gave me the tools to solve a real-life consulting case for a leading Bay Area company and top brand in the airline industry,” said Laura Englert, an EWMBA ’12 graduate. “Working with top execs and the CEO, we made things happen. This experience successfully helped me transition into my role as a strategy consultant.”
Career Management Group
The Berkeley-Haas MBA Career Management Group gives students access to various employers through multiple channels including on-campus interviews, corporate presentations, job postings and more. Hundreds of these opportunities are set up throughout the year specifically targeting Haas MBA students. In addition, students also have the chance to interact with hiring managers and recruiters in less formal ways through things such as industry firm nights, career panels, corporate visits, alumni mixers and job fairs.
“The Career Management Group opened my eyes to so many different functions and industries, and then opened the doors for me to explore actual companies,” said Sini Ninkovic, an ’15 MBA. “Every Career Advisor brings a different perspective and familiarity with a different industry.”
There’s also an option for MBA students who are interested in working in a position or for a firm that does not recruit on campus. Due to the small MBA class size at Haas, the Career Management Group can create a personalized strategy for your career path with resources and opportunities that match your skills and interests.
Other elements of the Career Management Group include:
- Career Fundamentals Workshops: These workshops help MBA students with their resume and cover letter writing, networking, interview strategies, pitching and more.
- Interview Prep: MBA students receive instruction from firms such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Clorox, Bain and McKinsey & Co. about how to use their classroom skills to succeed in an interview.
- Job Search: This six-week program breaks MBA students into teams in order to help them launch a strong job search in their chosen industry and function.
Haas Entrepreneurship
The Bay Area has long been a great location for new venture creation, and Berkeley-Haas is one of the leading centers for entrepreneurship. In 2016, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Haas fifth overall in entrepreneurship.
The school offers many startup activities for MBA students including startup competitions, the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum, Skydeck and Launch—the Berkeley startup competition and accelerator. There are also cross-campus mixers and hackathons as well as opportunities to meet venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, alumni and graduate students. The school also offers entrepreneurial internship subsidiaries, which provide MBA students working for startups additional compensation at typical market rates
“From experiential learning to structured accelerators with mentorship and peer support, there is no better place at which to gain the toolkit necessary to launch a startup than Berkeley-Haas,” the Haas website explains.