New Transportation Industry Jobs Emerge for B-School Grads
There’s no getting around the fact that car culture is the primary means by which Americans get around. While it is highly unlikely that this culture will disappear altogether, many factors including electric and hybrid vehicles, rideshare programs like Uber and Lyft, improved mass transit, and far-flung projects like Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, suggest transportation will change dramatically in the not-too-distant future.
MBAs would do well to take note of the many opportunities embedded in the transportation industry.
Corporate Development and Global M&A – Analyst — General Motors
General Motors is the largest automotive manufacturer in the United States. Traditionally known as one of the Big Three car companies—the other two are Ford and Fiat Chrysler—General Motors’ best-known brands in the United States are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac.
General Motors is hiring a Corporate Development and Global M&A – Analyst to work at either its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, or its offices in Bupyeong, Korea. The person hired for this position will join the company’s Corporate Development and Global M&A team, which is tasked with developing methods to deliver on corporate strategy. Some of the team’s areas of focus are alliance management, new business development, and corporate and regional strategic initiatives. This job requires at least three years of prior relevant experience, and an MBA is preferred.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading business case development for deals
- Supporting transaction execution
- Managing post-transaction partner relationships
To learn more about this and other jobs, please visit the General Motors career page.
Associate Director — BP
BP is a global energy firm that employs 75,000 people across 80 countries. The company covers all aspects of the energy market, from drilling and refining to trading and renewable energy.
BP is looking for more MBA talent to join its Houston team.
BP is hiring an Associate Director who will work from its office in Houston, Texas. The person hired in this position will be working as part of a team that provides bespoke energy risk management services and solutions to clients. The hiree will serve oil and gas producers, refiners, and airlines, among other corporate and financial parties. This job requires at least five years of relevant prior experience, and an MBA is preferred.
Key responsibilities include:
- Identifying possible transactions
- Delivering gross margin targets and business returns
- Managing various financial relationships
Visit the BP website to learn more about this positions and other employment opportunities.
Sr. Inventory Control Analyst — Tesla
Based in Fremont, California, Tesla is a major leader in the transition to sustainable energy. Although it is best known for its cars, the company also produces a variety of energy storage and generation units, including the Powerwall, Powerpack, and Solar Roof.
Tesla is hiring for a Sr. Inventory Control Analyst who will be based in its Fremont headquarters. The person hired to this position will be responsible for keeping an eye on the company’s inventory, ensuring its accuracy and maintaining an appropriate balance. The best candidates for this position will have at least five years of previous relevant experience. The company prefers candidates who possess an MBA.
Key responsibilities include:
- Monitoring inventory accuracy to enable reviews by senior management
- Reviewing inventory reconciliations
- Supporting the implementation of policies that ensure accurate inventory tracking
Visit the Tesla website to learn about this position and others.
Global Revenue Management Center of Excellence Advisor — ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil is a major player in the global petrochemical industry. The company plays a role in all aspects of the energy chain, from mining and refining to marketing and retail through its brands (Exxon, Mobil, Esso).
ExxonMobil is hiring a Global Revenue Management Center of Excellent Advisor who will work out of the company’s office in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas. The person hired to this position will be responsible for many things, including ensuring the delivery of effective revenue management processes and frameworks for the lubricants value chain. This job requires prior relevant experience, and an MBA is preferred.
Key responsibilities include:
- Contributing to revenue management objectives and strategies
- Analyzing market influences to develop optimal decision-making and business improvement recommendations
- Establishing an analytics work plan
More information about this job and others can be found at the ExxonMobil website.
New MBA Jobs in the Automotive and Gas Industries
There’s no better time to take a road trip than in the summertime, when the sun is shining and the cool breeze blowing against your face. So in the spirit of hitting the open road and enjoying some fun after getting out a list of MBA job applications, here’s a look at new MBA jobs at top companies in the automotive and gasoline industries. Continue reading…
New MBA Jobs in the Energy Sector
It’s hard to imagine that just 100 years ago, just 35 percent of American households had electricity and Model T cars were en vogue. Fast forward to present day, and energy companies not only provide the infrastructure that heats our homes and drives our cars, they also help set up future technologies and breakthroughs that will bring newer, cleaner energy innovations for years to come. Check out these exciting new MBA jobs at leading energy companies to see how you can help make an impact in an exciting, and evolving industry. Continue reading…
New MBA Jobs in the Energy Sector
If money makes the world go ‘round, the energy sector runs the machines that keep it going. With new energy sector jobs for MBAs popping up regularly, there are plenty of opportunities for recent graduates and current students. Check out some of the best new jobs at companies like Exxon, General Electric, and BP below: Continue reading…
New MBA Jobs: Deloitte, Visa, Fidelity and More
Whether it’s an entry level placement for recent graduates, or a position fit for a seasoned business veteran who just added an MBA to their resume, there’ lots of exciting new MBA jobs out there. This week is no different—check out some of the best new MBA jobs out there below: Continue reading…
The Top 5 Reasons Diversity MBA Conferences Should Be on Your Recruiting Calendar
Pictured above: Tuck second-year MBA students Bianca Goins, Sadé Lawrence, and Jodine Gordon.
More than 10,000 MBA students, business school representatives, recruiters, and business executives filled the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia late last month for one of the largest career conferences serving minority professionals. The conference has been around since 1970, but for the first time this year the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) and Prospanica, the association of Hispanic professionals, joined forces to present it. The result was an incredible opportunity for attendees to network with companies and each other, take advantage of career development programming, and interview for and secure job offers from hundreds of companies spanning multiple industries.
Cornell’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management had a group of approximately 55 students attend, a mix of first-year and second-year students, according to Cynthia Saunders-Cheatham, Executive Director of Johnson’s Career Management Center.
“It was double what we have had in recent years, and perhaps the largest attendance we ever had for an MBA diversity conference,” she said. “Having a joint NBMBAA/Prospanica conference, in addition to the Philadelphia location that was driving distance away [from Ithaca, NY, where Johnson is located], helped to drive attendance.” The connections that students made while there have already resulted in multiple job offers, she added.
While securing a job or internship is a primary reason many MBA students choose to attend the National Black/Prospanica conference and others like it, that’s just one of many potential benefits events like this offer. Given that this most recent conference was right here in our hometown of Philadelphia, we went to check things out for ourselves. Through conversations with attendees, school representatives, and recruiters, we’ve compiled the following list of reasons why this year’s crop of applicants should be sure to add diversity MBA conferences to their recruiting calendar next summer and fall.
1. Unparalleled Recruiter Access—Including Many That Don’t Come to Campus
The Career Expo, which took place on the last two days of the five-day National Black/Prospanica conference, filled a cavernous hall in the Convention Center and included booths from close to 300 companies spanning dozens of industries. Among them were coveted post-MBA tech employers like Google and Amazon, consulting industry leaders including Bain & Company and Accenture, and financial services firms such as BlackRock, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. There was a continuous gaggle at the Google booth, and one of its MBA internship recruiters, Tanya Choudhury, had to resort to wearing a sign by the second day explaining that she’d lost her voice.
Big pharma and healthcare were also well represented, with booths attended by recruiting representatives from drug maker AstraZeneca to medical products and equipment company Zimmer Biomet and many in between. Leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms including PepsiCo, General Mills, and Proctor & Gamble were also there, as were oil and gas giants like BP, Chevron, and Exxon.
Morgan Stanley was one of almost 300 exibitors in the conference’s packed Career Expo.
But there were also plenty of organizations that are perhaps less top of mind as potential MBA recruiters—the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Department of State, Teach for America, and USAID, for example—who were just as eager to share how highly they value the MBA skillset. Dozens of leading business schools also had booths, largely to provide support and serve as gathering places for students who were attending, but also with an eye out for promising diverse talent. For example, Roberto Martinez, a Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant for Dartmouth College—home to the Tuck School of Business—was eagerly distributing glossy handouts touting the school’s varied career opportunities, commitment to diverse hiring practices, and excellent benefits. “We’re here not only to support students but also to hire more diverse staff to campus,” he said.
For Tuck second-year MBA student Bianca Goins, the breadth of companies at the expo was a big part of the draw. “I wanted a diverse group of companies to look at in a single spot,” she said. “There are so many companies here, and as second-year you can really come and pick and choose the experiences you want to have.”
Tiffany Anderson, a second-year student at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, was also impressed by the sheer number of companies present. A self-proclaimed conference veteran, she also attended National Black last year, as well as conferences presented by the Forté Foundation, the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and JumpStart. “Out of all the diversity conferences, I would certainly say this is the flagship,” she said. “Wow! There are A LOT of companies here,” she recalled thinking to herself as she walked in. More so than last year, before National Black and Prospanica teamed up, she added.
“I have seen the most people—students from many different schools and recruiters from many different functional areas of interest,” she continued. “It seems to be the most diverse in terms of attendees, degree of programming, and companies in attendance. For the majority of people, this is going to be one of the best to attend.” Anderson estimates that there were probably 30 or so Goizueta students there, a mix of first- and second-years.
2. Multiple Touch Points and Opportunities for Face Time
For some students, certainly, the primary purpose in attending the conference is to land a job. Second-year IU Kelley School of Business MBA student Henrique Barbosa, a native of Brazil pursuing travel hospitality, had a simple answer when asked why he was there: “To get a job!” He acknowledged that most of the firms he was interested in only conduct first-round interviews at the conference followed by second-round interviews on site, which lessened the likelihood of his leaving with an offer in hand. “But it would be great if it happened,” he said.
But several other students were less interested in job or internship offers—or even in early round interviews. For Jodine Gordon (Tuck ’18), the biggest factor in her decision to attend was hearing success stories from Tuck grads whose higher-level touch points with conference recruiters later helped them secure offers. “I have a couple companies on my list, but really I just want to meet as many people as possible so they can get to know me and I can get face time,” she said.
Sadé Lawrence, also a second-year student at Tuck, was likewise attracted by the opportunity to get in front of recruiters in person. “For a lot of opportunities you might be interested in, you start online at a website, applying through data base,” she said. “But coming here they now have a face with your name, and there are all kinds of organic connections that can happen,” she added. “It’s kind of amazing that you are able to build connections with people even at such a big conference, but you are. You make contacts and get lots of face time—so much more so than you can blindly through a website,” she continued. “What I have heard more of is people have an interaction with a recruiter here that leads to an interview later—here is more about entering the pipeline.”
Tuck’s Goins has taken the opportunity to network with recruiters who don’t make it to Tuck’s campus, but also those who do. “With every interaction, you are getting a more nuanced understanding of the company and can take that information and use it in subsequent interactions.”
3. Valuable Chances to Network with Peers
Goizueta’s Anderson interned in operations at Google over the summer—an opportunity she got through another diversity conference—and has been offered a full-time position on the tech giant’s Mountain View campus after she graduates. Despite having that full-time offer in hand, attending the conference still made lots of sense.
Kelley School second-year student Luis Vilchez Kupres, a native of Peru, also converted his summer internship—in supply chain operations at Cummins—into a full-time offer. So his reasons for attending the conference were not to get a job. ”I am here to support fellow Kelley first- and second-years and network a little more,” he said. He also gets to reconvene with students from other schools he met at last year’s Prospanica conference. “Often, you connect with somebody and they will help you connect with someone else,” he said. “Networking definitely helps—even among other MBA students.”
Tiffany Anderson, Goizueta MBA ’18, a diversity MBA conference veteran
For the Google-bound Anderson, the value of peer networking can’t be stressed enough. Being able to connect with students from other schools is the part she finds most enjoyable—but it’s also strategic. “When candidates are selecting a school they like to look at the size of the network they are going to get—and that’s great,” she said. “But the way I see it, I don’t have to be at Stanford or Wharton because I have friends at Stanford and Wharton. So in a way that’s kind of my network, too.”
“You have that domino effect,” she continued. If she’s trying to connect with someone at a company where she doesn’t have a contact or her classmates don’t have contacts, she can reach out to a friend at another school to see if there’s someone in their network. “Some might say, ‘Well, they’re a peer, they’re not an employer, they’re not going to get me a job.’ But there is so much more benefit to expanding your network. I don’t think everyone understands that.”
Of course, peer networking can be a two-way street. “My motivation to expand my network comes from wanting to help others as well,” Anderson said. “When you are part of these diversity networks, one of the great things is you are going to have a friend who says, ‘Do you know someone who can help me with this?’ And I can say, ‘Well, I met someone at a conference who does that very thing and I’m happy to put y’all in touch.’”
