Career Support

Career Support Every Step of the Way

Your career prospects multiply exponentially when you earn an MBA from Columbia, and you will begin your career transformation — whether in the private, public, or nonprofit sectors — immediately with a visit to the Career Management Center (CMC).

The CMC offers a range of resources to aid in your searches for internships and full-time employment. By taking advantage of one-on-one sessions with our expert career advisors to formulate individual job-search strategies, as well as workshops and events that provide tactical advice, you'll be well-prepared to navigate the job-search process and make connections with our large corporate and alumni networks. You’ll be well prepared for your first job after graduation and for a lifetime of success. In fact, as a Columbia graduate you have access to a career coach for the duration of your career, as well as an extensive Columbia alumni network that spans the globe.

Proven Success

Columbia Business School has a proven track record of guiding our graduates to successful careers, and in 2021, we continued that trend with 94 percent of students receiving offers within three months of graduation; 74 percent of these opportunities were facilitated by CBS (e.g., on-campus interviews, networking, proprietary job postings). Many students found their positions through on-campus recruiting activities, while others secured full-time employment through our enterprise job search process, including savvy networking and job postings on COIN, our career management portal. You can read our latest Employment Report for more detailed information about our alumni and their career paths.

Facts & Figures: Class of 2021

• 94% received a job offer within three months of graduation
• $150,000 median base salary
• 74% of opportunities were school-facilitated
• 46% non-U.S. citizens

Recruiting and Resources

Hiring companies know that a Columbia graduate is well prepared to take on today’s business challenges, and they get to know our students in a variety of ways, including special events, interviews, corporate visits, networking sessions, and educational presentations with student clubs, to name a few.

With the help of the CMC, you'll be ready to seize on opportunities as they arise, be it through a connection you make or a job posting you see. As partners in your career search, we teach you the key tools you needs: from how to research a desired company or industry to the best way to market yourself, ace an interview, or negotiate a salary.

The CMC also offers comprehensive support for students pursuing an internship between their first and second years. Many students find that internships are a great way to gain experience in a new, desired industry or work function and to set themselves up to thrive when they finish at Columbia.

Every fall and January, Geffen Hall is transformed for On-Campus Recruiting season for full-time and internship positions, respectively. You'll see many employers conducting interviews right on campus, MBA students swap their cluster tee-shirts for business suits, and all the training and resources the CMC has offered you in the previous months starts to pay off once you step into that interview room.

Throughout the year, the CMC also supports students in the enterprise job search — people who proactively seek out full-time or internship positions. As this type of recruiting ramps up in the spring term, the CMC supports these students through weekly meetings, one-on-one advising, alumni panels, and more, including:

• Individual career advising
• Résumé review and interview preparation
• Career workshops
• Web-based resources for self-assessment and company research
• Access to Columbia's unique Executives in Residence program