The Class of 2017 at the Harvard Business School (HBS) managed to get a median base salary of $135,000, a median signing bonus of $25,000 and median other guaranteed compensation of $25,000, according to the employment report released by the school.
Consulting was the flavour of the season with 23% of the students opting for the sector closely followed by private equity/venture capital at 18% and the technology sector at 16%. While 66% of them received Signing Bonus, 13% got Other Guaranteed Compensation.
The School said 76% of the total 937 students had opted to participate in the placement. The remaining 24% comprised Company sponsored or already employed (13%); starting own business (7%), other (3%), continuing education (1%) and postponing job search (1% each). While 95% received an offer, 89% accepted it. Altogether, they found openings in 360 organizations.
This year also saw a jump in students accepting positions in leadership development programs and general management, with 13% of the class going in that direction.
“Our students continue to focus on opportunities where they can make an immediate impact, whether at a large multinational or an early stage startup. In addition, we saw that over 50% of our students received the offer they ultimately accepted coming to them after January of their second year – a positive trend for organizations with more real-time hiring,” the report said.
In Industry destinations, Financial Services topped the list at 31% followed by Consulting at 23%. Technology was at 16%, Healthcare 7%, Manufacturing 5%, Consumer Products, Nonprofit / Government and Services at 4% each. Retail/Trading at 3% completes the picture.
In function destinations, Finance notched up 32% followed by Consulting at 25%, General Management 13%, Marketing 12%, Strategic Planning 8% and other 5%.
As far as location is concerned, United States accounted for 87% with the Northeast claiming 44% followed by West 25%, Midwest 6%, Mid-Atlantic 5%, South 4% and Southwest 3%.
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In the 13% international locations, Europe topped with 5% followed by Asia 4%, Latin America 2%, Australia & Oceania, Canada and the Middle East & North Africa at 1% each.
Women constituted 42% of the Class of 2017 with 389 students. International students numbering 318 made up 34% while U.S. ethnic minorities accounted for 28% with 260 students.
The average months of post-college work experience for the class was 51. The students represented 48 industries and 64 countries.
In Undergraduate Majors, Economics and Business accounted for 45% followed by Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at 36% and Humanities and Social Sciences at 19%.
