Hello WSO,
I was wondering how many jobs switches are considered too many prior to B-School. I received a job offer and I am debating on whether to take it. I have 3 years of finance experience at 3 different companies (graduated in 2013), and if I take this offer I would begin my fourth job out of college. I saw an WSO article similar to this with someone who took two different jobs in a 4 year period prior to b-school, but I wanted to get other opinions on my situation, which seems to be an extreme case. I would start for business school in 2018 or 2019 (age 28 or 29).
So is four jobs during 5-6 year time period considered too many for someone applying to business school with a finance background? Would this hurt my business application and post MBA employment?
Thanks in advance
I had 3 jobs in a 4 year period and got grilled on this both during my MBA interviews and my internship interviews. I had a story that made a lot of sense and people got it, so it did not end up having a negative effect on either, but if it doesn't look like a linear progression I can assure you that 4 in 5 years will definitely hurt you (moreso in OCR than MBA apps, though).
If you don't mind me asking how did you respond during your MBA interview? In my case would explaining that the job provided a higher salary and more responsibilities.
No, that's not really a good answer. It needs to lead you to why you are interviewing for that job. For instance, if you are interviewing for IB, something like "I worked on this fringe part of M&A at x job, realized I liked it, so moved to you job where I was exposed more completely to M&A. At y job I was doing implementation of M&A, but realized I wanted to be on the proactive side driving business so I moved to z job doing M&A vetting in a strategy role. Now I'm interviewing for banking because while I enjoyed the strategy of potential acquisitions I didn't get to transact the way you do as a banker."
You can see there is a clear progression there that gets you to why are you interviewing for investment banking. So while some talk about responsibility makes sense, jumping similar jobs for greater pay won't be acceptable. You'll need to spin it far better than that even if that is the reason.
Just think how that plays to a company when they're interviewing you. Why are they going to hire someone who has a demonstrated track record of leaving as soon as he sees potential for more $$ somewhere else?
In my time at b-school, I didn't know anyone with more than 3 jobs (though this may vary by school). I'd say 90% of the students had 1 or 2 jobs. Even then, the ones with 3 usually had a good reason for it. For example, they worked at a company that went under (e.g. Lehman, Arthur Andersen, etc.) and therefore had an unplanned job move because of it.
Was this more than 5-10 years ago ? Because MBA candidates in the 2000s are now very different MBA candidates in 2010.
I am a 2009 MBA grad; so if things have changed I guess I'll have to defer to someone with more recent experience. What's the current situation?
3 is IMO the most you should go in with. Obviously more can be acceptable if your story is ironclad, but higher salary is NOT good enough.
Why are you taking this newest job? Is it that much better? And wouldn't you only be there for a year before b-school anyways?
If I were you, and assuming your job now pays enough to live on, stay put, work hard, do the MBA then pivot jobs.
1.5 year corp finance at media company, 1 year in financial services in Philadelphia office (product control at BB), moved to company to be closer to family in NYC area and worked at the firm for 1 year still working there right now in PC. I was sought after by a headhunter interviewed two rounds and got an offer for PC at a more technical role at BB.
also, i may stay for 2 years in the new job while working on GMAT, if, and only if i were to take it. so i would be starting in 2019 (i graduated 2013) which 5-6 years of work exp
Hi, what if you are going to job number 3 in 3 years but there is a clear progression in career path. Back office settlements - Middle Office - Trader?
Totally logical
dreamtobeabanker how long was each of the 3 jobs? Any way to drop one - i.e. first one out of college was just 5 months, so maybe drop that and show first job as 6 months out of college? This may be solution if you're set on taking the job...
1.5 year corp finance at media company, 1 year in financial services in Philadelphia region (product control at BB), moved to company to be closer to family in NYC area and worked at the firm for 1 year still working there right now in PC at a commodities firm. I was sought after by a headhunter interviewed two rounds and got an offer for PC at a more technical role at BB. so i did not hold a short term job unfortunately. i might not take the job. of course the headhunter will not like it, but im really want to do the MBA (my GMAT sucks though having a tough time with it but im going slighly off topic)
If your goal is to apply for an MBA during Round 1 of 2018 (ie in 6 months), the ONLY reason to switch would be for a stellar brand name with a functional switch (BB PC -> BB IBD), both of which would help for MBA applications and OCR once on campus. Your current offer is an incremental switch to more technical MO role - not worth putting any red flags on your resume.
Stick it out at your current firm and try to kill the GMAT (720++ given your background, if you're a white heterosexual male). I'm sure the headhunter won't be happy, but thank him for his time - can't live your life for anyone other than yourself.
If you're staying in this new job for 2-3 years before applying you should be OK. If you're staying for a year again - then frankly, that's a red flag. Job hopping every year for more pay is exactly what schools and firms don't want to see on a resume, they assume you're either self-centered and have poor career management or assume that you've been asked to resign repeatedly. You'd best have a strong narrative to explain the transitions.
Just as an aside, this shit comes to bite you in the ass hard at some point. If you keep this up, you will become unhireable for a long time and could get stuck in a job you really don't like. The problem is, that situation occurs sort of overnight. At some point, your resume just looks like a landmine and nobody will touch it until you prove you can stick it out with a company.
Job hopping (Originally Posted: 12/21/2007)
How is job hopping perceived by B-Schools? For an applicant with 4 years of experience after undergrad, is it acceptable to have had 3 or 4 jobs in that time period?
Thanks man. This is good advice- its highly likely that I will stay at my current job and just focus on my GMAT, then stick with my current plan and apply 2018.
Excellent question...
It is always best to have a clean record when applying for school, or other jobs. You will need to show a clear thought process and a justifiable reason for each move. I would say moving once a year is a little excessive. You should have at least 1 job with 2+ years experience on your cv.
I had one friend who switched jobs 3 times in 3 years... (3 different finance jobs). He now finds it very difficult to even get interviews because people immediately question his commitment when they see that.
In addition to having a good story around why you switched that many times, it also depends on what types of jobs these were... in Silicon Valley for example job hopping is the norm and people at tech companies/startups switch quite frequently.
Although people also hop around quite a bit in finance, it is quite a bit more conservative so that many job changes will raise some eyebrows.
That said, for business school I don't think it's too much of an issue as long as you have a good explanation/story for your moves.
dosk is dead on. you should be worried about how it will affect your future job prospects, not your admission business school.
MLamb thanks you for the insightful comment! The OP was asking specifically about an Adcom's perspective on job-hopping and you did a great job of completely failing to acknowledge the inquiry. Adcoms want to see a cohesive story and examples of leadership and teamwork, neither of which can be demonstrated within 3-4 different environments in 4 years. You would be much better served to stick it out for 2 years at 1 job despite how miserable you job may be.
First job = 2 years
Second Job = 4 years......
These comments are right on the money. Job hopping can kill your chances of landing the position you really want. If I look at a resume an see a person jummping from firm to firm, that pattern turns me off.
My first job I stayed for seven, my second I am on my second year now. Showing loyalty goes along way. You may hear out there that loyalty is dead and people move from company to company. This may be true but don't follow the crowd. Get a position, stay at least 2 to 3 years and then maybe weight out your options.
Also, staying with a firm, when everyone else is job hopping opens up alot more doors for you.
Will moving to a lower ranked firm hurt my chances of Top 10 MBA? (Originally Posted: 01/28/2016)
Background Big 4 ACA (UK equivalent of the CPA) qualified 3.5 years experience in financial services audit Graduate from a "top" university - sits comfortably in the top 100 world rankings Will have 1 year experience in M&A advisory at a slightly lower ranked accounting firm (think BDO, Grant Thornton, RSM, etc) by the time I apply
In my current role I've gained experience in financial due diligence and lead advisory so it's a way more commercial and interesting role and much better for me as far as career aspirations go then staying in audit. I would eventually like to work for a boutique M&A or strategy consulting firm.
My question is will having moved to a non Big 4 firm hurt my chances or will admissions appreciate that I have upgraded my role and see this as a positive?
Changing jobs and need advice on B-school profile (Originally Posted: 03/19/2014)
I recently made the decision to leave my job as a Business Analyst in S&O at Deloitte Consulting, to join the corporate strategy group at a retailer. In short, the key reason I am making the transition is that I don't think consulting is a long term fit for me (due to work/life balance and travel) and I wanted to take the opportunity to get a different type of experience before b-school. I still plan on applying to MBA programs within the next few years, most likely in Fall 2015.
The cold hard facts: Me: Half-Asian male, will be 25 or 26 when applying Undergrad: 3.95 GPA from US News Top 15 University, Major in Econ, Minor in Comp Sci GMAT: 750 (98th percentile verbal, 81st percentile quant) ECs: Decent leadership experience in undergrad (fraternity treasurer, consulting club co-president, newspaper columnist) and some community service in last 2 years (volunteer tax prep and youth outdoor leadership). Hope to have more free time to build on this with the new job. Current job: Just under 2 years as an analyst at Deloitte where I did several interesting strategy projects in the retail space where I can point to specific measurable impact I delivered. Achieved top rating (top 10-15%) in first year. Held some good internal leadership roles during my stint. New Job: Joining small corporate strategy group at a successful and growing F500 retailer. Group is all former consultants and past two that have left for b-school have gone to HBS and Columbia (both were female) Recommendations: will likely come from direct managers at my new company, but it is possible I could have one from a former direct manager at Deloitte.
I am currently not sure about what I want to do after b-school, and that will be informed by my experience at the new job. It could be a long term career in retail, or maybe another stint at a consulting firm followed by a return to corporate strategy. Could also be something totally different (entrepreneurship or finance come to mind). Either way, I think my application story will likely center around my experience as a consultant, how I developed an interest in retail, pursued that interest in industry, and want to position myself for a career as a leader in the retail space.
I am looking for advice/commentary on two things:
1) What are my chances at H/S/W as well as the rest of the M7? If I apply to 4-5 schools in that group, how important is it for me to apply to one or more safety schools?
2) What are the gaps in my profile and/or story? What can I focus on over the next 2 years to improve my candidacy? You won't hurt my feelings, I want honest feedback here.
Sorry for the long post, just want to provide the whole picture up front. Thanks in advance for the advice!
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