This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com.
Joining an elite investment bank such as JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs is the ultimate goal for many MBA graduates. The good news is that these elite institutions are hiring more MBAs than ever, despite ongoing job cuts and restructuring across the investment bank industry.
In 2014, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) revealed that 26 percent of MBAs landed a job in finance/accounting—more than any other industry. And in 2015, overall employment within the financial services sector rose from 35 percent to nearly 37 percent.
Why Working at Morgan Stanley Is Attractive
If you’re looking for a high paying job, then you’ve chosen the right industry. According to Bloomberg, MBAs in finance take home a median salary of $210,000—the highest of all sectors. As for which investment bank pays the most, MBAs who work at Morgan Stanley take home the largest compensation packages. Bloomberg surveyed 12,773 professionals six to eight years after they graduated from business school. They found that even at tech giants like Google and Apple, MBAs tend to earn 36 percent less than their peers at Morgan Stanley (mainly because they receive smaller bonuses).
But that’s not the only reason to work for Morgan Stanley. In 2016, on Vault.com, Morgan Stanley ranked #2 out of the most prestigious banking firms and #3 under the Vault Banking 50. In fact, Morgan Stanley ranks highly in almost every area. It ranks #5 for diversity for women and #2 for the ability to challenge tech professionals. Why does it rank so highly? Here’s what employees had to say:
“The smart genuine people and culture of collaboration and teamwork.”
“Very prestigious firm with great clients.”
“Interesting, challenging and impactful work.”
Getting a Position at Morgan Stanley
So why should you choose to work at Morgan Stanley? Partly, it’s the competitive nature of the position. Obtaining a job at a U.S. investment bank is not for the faint of heart. According to Bloomberg News, in 2014, Morgan Stanley rejected a staggering 89,000 summer internship applications out of the 90,000 applications it received.
A career in investment banking is prestigious, which means you’re up against the best and the brightest MBAs in the country. To get a position at Morgan Stanley, you need to have an MBA from a top-ranking business school. Business Because revealed that the latest MBA hires for the company came from London Business School, Dartmouth’s Tuck School, Columbia Business School, and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
However, that’s not the only qualification. Morgan Stanley also looks for MBAs who have unconventional backgrounds. For example, if you’re a U.S.‒based MBA with a background in product development at a leading luxury brand in Asia, you may be more attractive.
For a more detailed look, CNN Money broke down exactly what Morgan Stanley looks for in its MBAs.
The firm seek candidates with strong teamwork skills; specifically, applicants are asked to discuss their approach to working in groups during the interview process. Morgan Stanley also hires a lot of MBAs out of its 10-week summer internship program. In fact, 80 percent of the MBAs that Morgan Stanley hires are from this program.
MBA Programs Offered at Morgan Stanley
The Summer Internship at Morgan Stanley is a 10-week program designed to give MBAs insight into various divisions of the company and to develop and master the analytical, quantitative and interpersonal skills needed to succeed. Unfortunately, getting an internship is difficult. While the firm accepts about 1,000 summer hires each year, that translates into an acceptance rate lower even than Harvard Business School’s.
Another option for MBAs is applying for the Morgan Stanley MBA Fellowship Program. It’s a competitive graduate scholarship program designed for women, black, Hispanic, Native American and LGBT MBA students. It offers outstanding students a financial award as well as Summer Associate Internship.
Is Morgan Stanley Right for You?
Are you curious about whether Morgan Stanley is the right fit for you? At the end of 2014, the company released a list of its newest MBA recruits. According to efinancialcareers, they came from various backgrounds. We’ve selected two examples below.
Adrien Chevallier: Adrien is an associate in Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division, having just completed his MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, with a specialization in corporate finance. He interned at Morgan Stanley before getting the job, but has a military background. He was an ‘infantry company executive officer’ in the French army, where he led a team of 150 men and was the ‘company operations officer’.
Shai Sessler: Shai is in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley, having graduated from London Business School. He interned at Morgan Stanley during the summer and has a history of financial services experience, but not in banking. Previously, he was a senior financial consultant at EY as well as a financial analyst at Variance, a law trainee in the M&A division at Herzog, Fox & Neeman and an analyst in real estate private equity at Profimex.
There’s no doubt that Morgan Stanley is an attractive career option for MBAs. In fact, according to CNN Money, 6.7 percent of all MBAs want to work. We don’t see that number changing anytime soon.
