New Finance Analyst Jobs for MBAs Headline This Week’s Biggest Openings
MBAs have the potential to take any number of professional routes once they complete their degrees—that’s part of the beauty of the degree. The vast majority end up in the world of finance. It’s a challenging and infinitely mutable field that functions as a proving ground for all newly minted graduates. This week’s post highlights four jobs that allow people to get into the field and put the skills they have learned to use.
What are the Highest Paying Finance Companies for MBAs?
Let’s face it: even if money isn’t the number one reason you are looking into an MBA, it’s probably pretty high on the list. We know that earning an MBA can not only lead to a raise in salary, but can open the door to even more career opportunities that can further increase your earning potential. For those with money on the mind, there’s a lot to consider when pursuing your MBA, from which specialization will give you the most ‘bang for your buck’ to what kind of future employers most value their MBAs.
One of the top industries that consistently makes the list when looking for the most valuable MBA specializations is finance. With an average salary of $121,000 USD for jobs within the finance industry, having or working towards your MBA is a reality of the field. But for those who are willing to put in the work, finance companies are willing to pay.
The 5 Best Paying Finance Companies For MBAs
One of the places where MBAs are earning top dollars is Morgan Stanley, a financial services firm that provides a number of financial advising services, such as wealth management, investment banking, sales and trading, research, and more. Morgan Stanley is an active recruiter of diverse business school and MBA graduates, with their most recent cohort of recruits coming from 56 different countries. The company offers graduates a number of different ways to get their foot in the door, including a number of summer internships and fellowships designed specifically for MBAs.
It’s clear that Morgan Stanley believes in investing in the MBAs on its staff. While the average salary at the company is in the $75,866 range for those with just a bachelor’s degree, employees have reported average salaries around $100,477 after earning an MBA.
Depending on the job and department within the company, earning potential can be even higher. Within the firm’s investment banking department, salaries can reach over $200,000. One reason for Morgan Stanley’s high numbers come from their reputation to dole out tremendous bonuses, which—combined with the base salary—makes this company one of the highest paying firms for MBAs in finance.
Godman Sachs Group, Inc., a multinational finance company that focuses in global investment banking, investment management, securities, and a number of financial services. Founded in 1869, the company today has 34,000 employees throughout the world and revenue of more than $42 billion. Goldman Sachs makes a number of opportunities available to recent MBA graduates and current students, such as the Goldman Sachs MBA Fellowship which recognizes outstanding business students with a role as summer associate and $35,000 award in addition to the associate’s salary.
According to Payscale, MBA holders at Goldman Sachs earned a median salary of $96,844. With such a high number of diverse MBAs working for their organization, this average includes the salaries of finance managers, CFOs, financial analysts, financial controllers, and many other positions that MBAs might hold within the company.
Bank of America began more than a hundred years ago, undergoing a series of expansions and mergers that ultimately led the company to its role as one of the ‘Big Four’ banks of the United States. Today, Bank of America makes more than $87 billion in revenue and employees a whopping 208,000 employees throughout the world. Through campus recruiting, diversity fellowships, and summer internships, Bank of America actively seeks talented MBA students and recent graduates. Through the full time analyst and associate programs, graduates work full-time in a structured program that offers consistent training, development, and social opportunities.
Bank of America employees with MBA degrees report an average salary of $101,522. Programs dedicated to hiring and training MBAs, such as the Bank of America MBA Leadership Development Program, matches these exceptional salaries, offering recent graduates impressive professional development opportunities as well as salaries ranging from $94,918-$101,733.
Headquartered in Zürich, Credit Suisse Group is a multinational financial services holding company with a heavy presence in the United States. With more than 48,000 employees worldwide, Credit Suisse in 2014, was said to hold more than $888 billion of assets under management. Credit Suisse offers several pathways for MBA graduates to become involved at their company, offering positions as full-time analysts, associates, and career starters.
Depending on the role, there can be a wide range of salaries recent graduates might earn when they join Credit Suisse in an analyst positions. Positions like investment banking analyst or business analyst are likely to make upwards of $70,000-80,000, with the opportunity to turn your degree into much more as you move up through the ranks. The average salary for an MBA with a finance specialization, according to Payscale, is $120,414.
Barclays, a British multinational bank and financial services company, is well-known today for its global reach, employing more than 120,000 people and operating in more than 40 countries. Like the other high-paying financial firms on this list, Barclays offers a number of opportunities to draw talented MBA graduates to their company. Programs like Barclays MBA Ambition gives MBA candidates the chance to get a summer internship at the company even before beginning their program, allowing them to focus fully on school once it starts while feeling confident about the future. This fellowship, for example, offers $45,000 toward first-year tuition with the opportunity for an additional $45,000 in their second year if they choose to join Barclays full-time after graduating. On average, salaries for recent graduates can range from $69,588-$74,898.
MBA Job Opportunities: BlackRock
Though many MBA grads are passionate about their career prospects, those driven to work in the financial industry may be more reticent to commit to a life of uncomfortable suits and harsh fluorescent lights. A TINYpulse study found that employees at financial service companies have some of the lowest career satisfaction rates out there, despite stable salaries. The study put the amount of financial service employees who are happy with their work environment at less than 22 percent. In fact, an eFinancialCareers study found that one third of bankers hate their jobs. So, does an MBA and a penchant for finance mean a life of tolerating punishing work hours with little recognition from colleagues and superiors? Not necessarily.
Recent MBA grads with a penchant for finance will be pleased to learn that BlackRock, Inc., one of the largest asset-management companies in the world, provides a different kind of environment from the majority of financial institutions. Business Insider consistently ranks BlackRock as one of the premier financial employers in the U.S, writing, “The firm is big on employee development plans and employee engagement. For example, employees get to pitch ideas to senior executives at the two-day Innovation Summit, which helps spur new products for retirees and connect coworkers across different departments, according to LinkedIn.”
Why Work at BlackRock?
In a Business Insider interview, Jeff Smith, Senior Managing Director at BackRock’s Head of Global Human Resources Group, called BlackRock, “… an incredibly passionate place with a very clear sense of purpose that comes from Larry Fink, our founder and CEO, to everyone else in the company.”
BlackRock is renowned for its relaxed corporate culture, and 73 percent of its employees report high job satisfaction. The company employs over 130 investment teams in 30 different countries, so there is ample opportunity to join BlackRock beyond its New York City headquarters.
BlackRock’s effort to create a successful and diverse environment has been nothing short of empowering. Since 2015, over 2000 of the company’s prominent employers joined in the “Driving Better Decisions” initiative, which aims to help remove “unconscious bias” in decision-making, according to the official BlackRock website, as well as rethink the way human resources recruits and develops diverse talent. While the gender ratio at the company is still predominantly male, BlackRock has also made a concerted effort to increase female employment in senior management roles to 30 percent by the end of the decade, signing the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter.
Pay Day
According to recent PayScale survey figures, MBA grads, despite their role, earn around $86,000 annually at BlackRock. These figures fluctuate depending on the specific role, rising to as much as $316,000 per year for investment strategists. According to the same data, bonuses at the company are also pretty exceptional. Portfolio managers reported an average bonus of $39,000 per year, while even the lowest bonus figures neared $10,000 per year.
Figures according to PayScale data.
Interning at BlackRock
For students nearing the end of their higher education journey, BlackRock offers summer internships for a glimpse of life at the company. BlackRock’s global Analyst Program is a two year-long entry level program for new graduates. The program kicks off with a training in New York City. Throughout the program, trainees will develop their skills in communicating with clients and understanding how to help them manage fiduciary matters.
BlackRock offers several other internships, and is conscious of promoting diversity in their industry. The Founders Scholarship provides merit rewards and a summer internship to students who identify as Black, Hispanic, Native American, LGBTQ, or disabled. Merit awards for this scholarship can be as high as $15,000.
Getting Hired
In an interview with eFinancialCareers, Jonathan Jones, director of global campus recruiting at BlackRock, gave some insight into how interested candidates can get their foot in the door at the company.
“What I think makes a BlackRock person stand out though, is that we look for people who embody or represent our principles. For example, we have a commitment to innovation. Innovation—original thinking, problem solving, and creativity – is central to our identity. Equally, we have a strong commitment to teamwork, and we look for people who can join the dots between our disparate activities in ways which can solve problems for our clients,” Jones said.
According to Jones, BlackRock hires many recent university graduates with Bachelor’s degrees, and the company also hires MBA candidates who have work experience that is relevant to specific positions, such as real estate and equity research.
A recent highlight from Clear Admit on the best business school’s for MBA grads that want to break into the industry that these five schools produced the most finance employees:
- Columbia Business School
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- New York University Stern School of Business
- University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School
- Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management
BlackRock has been actively recruiting at the world’s high ranking universities, stopping by Columbia Business School as recently as last month for an information session. Read here to find out for more events the company is hosting in the coming weeks and months and check out more about a potential career with BlackRock below.
