MBAs Return to Their Roots

The Wall Street Journal reports that MBAs, unable to find the lucrative jobs in consulting and finance that they paid big bucks to access, are going back to whatever it was they used to do. 

That's what happened to my class in 2001 -- though not to me, because I'd come from the one field, technology consulting, that was doing worse than finance or management consulting.  I did sniff around to see if there were any jobs available, but as one recruiter pointed out, my skills were two years old, and the market was glutted.  "Find a nice guy," he advised, "and have his babies."

But even those who can return to the mother ship are usually more than a little embittered by the experience.  Most people get an MBA because they want to switch fields.  Paying $80-$100,000 for a promotion is a pretty hard pill to swallow.