The Career View from Wharton

Christopher Morris is director of MBA career management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Although he has only been at Wharton for two and a half years, he has more than 10 years of MBA recruiting and program administration experience.

He headed admissions from 1995 to 1996 at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, while he was earning his MBA there. After Cornell, he was a brand manager at Procter & Gamble (PG ) and then marketing manager at Campbell Soup (CPB ) before arriving at Wharton in 2003.

At Wharton, 90% of the 1,615 2005 graduates who were seeking a job had an offer by graduation -- up from 86% the year before. The average starting salary was $100,000. Morris says the market is particularly strong right now, especially for those graduates entering financial services and consulting. He recently spoke with BusinessWeek correspondent Helena Oh. Here is an edited excerpt of their conversation:

What trends do you see in the job market?
One of the biggest trends is the expanded global competition in hiring (see BW Online, 5/10/05, "Getting Serious About Studying Abroad"). We're certainly taking every opportunity to give students a global education with hands-on opportunities.

Our Global Consulting Practicum (GCP) allows students to work as consultants for a small business in a developing country. The Global Immersion Program offers about 40 students the chance to take a three-week tour of a particular region.

Most recently, a group went to India with an associate director in career management. They visited three or four companies a day in each of the major Indian cities and met with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of the country. They now understand not only the business but [the] political side of the economy as well.

What sort of help do you offer students before they arrive on campus?
In August and September, we educate students about different industries and opportunities to narrow down their search (see BW Online, 5/23/05, "Stepping Onto the Right Career Path"). We try to show them the realities of...

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