Anand David is Joint Global Head of Campus Recruiting for UBS Investment Bank in New York. He is responsible for directing about 30 recruiters who hire well over 1,000 new MBA graduates worldwide every year. His on-campus team recruits at 21 business schools throughout the Americas, 20 in Europe and 15 in Asia.

MBA graduates would do well to conduct their first job search on the basis  of getting a foot in the door of a new career, and drop their expect ations of walking into upper management right away, said Anand David, Joint Global Head ofCampus Recruiting for UBS Investment Bank.

“Post the dot-com bubble, some MBA graduates’expectations are still too high,” David said from his New York office. David is responsible for directing about 30 recruiters who hire well over 1,000 graduates worldwide every year. His on-campus team re c ruits at 21 universities and business schools throughout the Americas, 20 in Europe and 15 in Asia.

Problems arise when MBA graduates fail to realize they have to put in some hard work and develop my skills over time in order to move up the corporate ladder. They say, 'No, I want it now. I want to be doing deals and managing people now,' according to David.

There’s a big difference between looking at post-graduate employment as the beginning of a career and not the end in and of itself, he said.

New York, New York

Overall hiring of MBA graduates is up year-over-year — from 10 to 15 percent in the past three years — as the markets have been getting stronger.

At present, the most activity is taking place in the United States, d riven by investment banking.

UBS Investment Bank has locations in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston, but its concentration of activity remains in Stamford and New York, according to David.

End of MBA equity research days

While demand for MBA graduates has increased in certain regions and in certain businesses, an MBA’s market ability has dropped elsewhere. Business models and demand have changed. Among the employe rs making better use of Bachelor’s Degree holders are those who employ vast numbers of people in the hardworking equity research industry.

“Some businesses had a view of hiring only MBAs for equity research, but now they’re changing. I think the MBAs’expect ations could be too high. They want strategic management and client interaction immediately, whereas in equity research, you have to get the financial statement analysis, valuation and number-crunching right first... MBAs are less interested in doing it. Undergrads are much more willing to do it since they just got out of school,” David said.

UBS, like other leading employers, also is highly interested in recruiting undergrads for fulltime and summer internship positions in finance, accounting, engineering and IT.

Furthermore, compensation becomes an issue when MBA graduates demand higher starting salaries than their industry is willing to pay.

Anand David: Employer of Choice

For the past four years, UBS has been formally recognised as an “Employer of Choice” (a Top 50 MBA employer) by Fortune magazine, and less officially by the numbers of students seeking to work there. David expects the trend to continue. “We are striving to be the best global financial services firm. As our firm’s brand has evolved, we’ve evolved into an Employer of Choice. We’ve seen our rankings go up as people pay attention to the on-campus perceptions of different employers,” David said.