Job-Hunting M.B.A.s Bet on Gaming Industry
Wall Street and Silicon Valley have long been meccas for job-hunting M.B.A.s. Now, the hot new destination is the glitzy Vegas Strip.
This school year, student clubs at both Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School made their first pilgrimages to Las Vegas. M.B.A.s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology made a repeat visit. And come spring, the travel and hospitality club at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business plans an excursion to the neon oasis.
"Las Vegas is the epicenter of the tourism and hospitality industry, and yet it's such an untapped market for M.B.A.s," says Ted Perlstein, who organized the Columbia trip. He and other M.B.A.s are betting on more job opportunities as gambling fever continues to grow, from the Nevada desert to Indian reservations, and even as far away as Macau. They believe the gambling behemoths, created by a series of recent mergers, will need their analytical and strategic know-how more than ever.
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The casino business is becoming more a numbers game as casinos adopt sophisticated financial and marketing strategies, such as database-driven customer-loyalty programs. "Our training in revenue management and optimization can help casinos understand how much to charge for rooms and comp gamblers [with free rooms and meals] in order to derive the most value from each customer," says Maria Taft , co-president of Stanford's travel and hospitality club.
The Las Vegas treks are just one sign of how M.B.A. students are branching out into new industries. Some students were forced to look beyond the traditional M.B.A. fields of management consulting and investment banking during the protracted job-market slump that began in 2001. But even now, as hiring by consulting and banking firms rebounds, students continue to test the waters in industries that haven't traditionally recruited more than a few graduates and that pay much less than the $150,000 compensation packages some M.B.A.s command.
Columbia students, for example, expanded their retailing club to include the fast-growing luxury-goods sector and have attracted the eye of such companies as Polo Ralph Lauren, closely held Chanel, and Retail Brand Alliance's Brooks Brothers. Columbia M.B.A.s also are targeting entertainment and media companies and recently ventured to Los Angeles to connect with Walt Disney, Paramount and other studios.
Increasingly, students are saying that quality-of-life benefits trump lofty salaries. "I might make less money in the hospitality industry, but I want to have fun in my job and feel passionate about it," says Erica Pergament, a Columbia University M.B.A. student who interned last summer in marketing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. "M.B.A.s are no longer as willing to take a job at an investment bank where they're practically a slave. We want to work for companies where we can get excited about the product we're selling."
When M.B.A.s came calling in Las Vegas this year, they met with executives from Las Vegas Sands, MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment, took back-of-the-house tours of the casino-hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and theaters, and attended cocktail receptions with b-school alumni in the gambling industry. Of course, it wasn't all business. The students budgeted in time to see the Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, party at ghostbar and the Pure nightclub, and play a few hands of blackjack.
For now, the odds may not be in M.B.A.s' favor. Student interest in gambling seems to be outpacing demand for M.B.A. talent. "Traditionally, this has been a pay-your-dues industry where you start at the bottom and work your way up," says James Gancos, a Harvard M.B.A. "We have to educate more of the gaming companies about our skills and the value of bringing in outsiders who can challenge the status quo."
Only Harrah's is sold on M.B.A.s. It had long recruited about 10 M.B.A.s a year for its management-training program and recently decided to increase the number of hires to 25. With strong database marketing and customer-relationship management programs, it values M.B.A.s with quantitative and technical prowess.
"I endeavor to hire M.B.A.s with experience in financial services and retailing, who can transfer ideas to the gaming business," says Harrah's CEO Gary Loveman, an M.I.T.-trained economist and former management professor at Harvard. He is pleased by the rising student interest in Las Vegas because many M.B.A.s shied away in the past. "They worried it wouldn't look good on their résumés and might retard their careers," he says. "They thought it wouldn't be comparable to the experience of working in a more mainstream industry."
Other casinos may be poised to follow Mr. Loveman's lead. Las Vegas Sands, which owns the Venetian casino-hotel, is hiring M.B.A.s from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School for internships this summer. It also has established a new leadership-development program that will likely recruit more M.B.A.s.
That is good news to members of the risk/gaming club at the University of Chicago who want to attract casino recruiters to campus. Chicago students certainly have a strong affinity with gambling, judging from their stellar showing at the second annual M.B.A. poker championships in January. Some players at the Las Vegas tournament were curious about potential jobs and met with casino executives. But most concentrated on their cards, not their careers, including poker champ Leonard Cooperman who returned to Chicago nearly $7,000 richer. "I love Vegas," says Mr. Cooperman, who has lined up an investment-banking job at Bear Stearns after graduation. "But to me, it's a playground for adults, not a place to work."
拉斯维加斯渐成MBA新圣地
华尔街和矽谷(Silicon Valley)一直是MBA毕业生心目中的圣地。现在，五光十色的拉斯维加斯大道(Vegas Strip)却成为MBA学子们的新目的地。
今年，哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)和哥伦比亚商学院(Columbia Business School)的学生俱乐部展开首次对拉斯维加斯的朝圣之行。麻省理工学院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)的MBA学生则是再度造访。在春天来临之际，斯坦福大学(Stanford University)商学院的旅游和娱乐俱乐部计划前往这个沙漠中的不夜城。
“拉斯维加斯是旅游和酒店业的中心，但却是MBA学生尚未问津的一个市场。”组织哥伦比亚学生此次旅行的泰德?博尔斯坦(Ted Perlstein)称。他和其他MBA学生认为随著博彩热潮在从这个内华达沙漠到印第安保留地，甚至远到澳门等地的持续升温，工作机会将会持续涌现。他们相信近期一系列并购产生的博彩业巨头将比以往任何时候都需要他们的分析和战略规划技能。
博彩业越来越重视数字分析，因为赌场采用复杂的财务和营销策略，比如以数据库为基础的客户忠诚计划。“我们在收入管理和最优化方面进行的培训能够帮助赌场理解应该如何对房间收费以及向赌客提供免费券（免费住宿及餐饮），以便从每一位顾客那里获得最大价值。”斯坦福的旅游和酒店业俱乐部联系会长玛丽亚?塔夫特(Maria Taft)称。
拉斯维加斯之旅只是MBA学生开拓新职业空间的迹象之一。自2001年就业市场开始滑坡以来，一些学生被迫将目光从管理咨询以及投资银行等传统MBA领域投向别处。但是即使现在咨询和银行业招聘活动复苏，但学生们继续涉足一些传统上很少招募MBA学生，支付薪酬未达一些MBA学生期望值(15万美元)的行业。
比如，哥伦比亚学生就将快速增长的奢侈品行业纳入到零售业俱乐部的活动范围，这引起了Polo Ralph Lauren，少数人持股的夏奈尔(Chanel)，以及Retail Brand Alliance的Brooks Brothers等公司的注意。哥伦比亚MBA学生还将目光投向了娱乐和媒体公司，他们最近来到洛杉矶与沃尔特-迪斯尼公司(Walt Disney)、派拉蒙(Paramount)等电影公司建立了联系。
越来越多的学生表示，高品质的生活比高薪更重要。哥伦比亚大学的学生埃里卡?伯格曼(Erica Pergament)表示，“投身酒店业可能不会挣很多钱，但我能从中享受乐趣，我热爱这份工作。”伯格曼去年夏天曾在拉斯维加斯MGM Grand酒店的营销部门实习过。他说，“MBA学生对投资银行已经没有那么高的热情了，在那里工作不亚于奴隶。我们希望到那些能从企业产品中获得乐趣的公司就业。”
MBA学生今年来拉斯维加斯时拜会了Las Vegas Sands、MGM Mirage、Harrah's Entertainment的管理人士，参观了赌场酒店、餐馆、夜总会和电影院，还出席了投身博彩业的商学院校友举办的鸡尾酒会。当然，也不全都是商业活动。学生们也抽空观看了Cirque du Soleil的表演，到夜总会放松了一下，还小赌了几把。
但眼下MBA学生来拉斯维加斯就业可不是件容易的事。拉斯维加斯目前无法满足所有MBA学生的求职申请。哈佛大学商学院毕业生詹姆斯?甘科斯(James Gancos)表示，“从传统意义来说，博彩业一直是一个自食其力的行业，你要从最底层做起，一步一个脚印地往上爬。我们有必要向博彩公司进一步展示我们的才华，向它们灌输从外面引入可以改变现状的人才的价值。”
但只有Harrah买MBA学生们的帐。该公司长期以来每年都要为管理层培训项目招募10名左右的MBA毕业生，而且最近决定把招聘人数提高至25人。凭借强大的数据库营销以及客户关系管理项目，该公司可以从定量和技术的角度对MBA学生进行评估。
Harrah的首席执行长加里?拉夫曼(Gary Loveman)表示，“我希望招聘那些有金融服务业和零售业背景的MBA毕业生，他们可以这些经验带到博彩业中。”拉夫曼毕业于麻省理工学院，曾在哈佛大学担任过管理学教授。他乐于见到越来越多的MBA毕业生来拉斯维加斯就业，以前MBA毕业生们对此避之不及，他们拉斯维加斯从业背景会在简历上留下污点，成为以后职业生涯的绊脚石。他们更愿意投身更加正规的行业。
其他赌场可能会步Harrah的后尘。例如，Las Vegas Sands今年夏天将从加州大学伯克利分校以及宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院(Wharton School)招聘实习生。它还设置了一个新的管理层培训项目，为此有可能招聘更多的MBA学生。
对于希望将博彩业招聘者吸引到校园来的芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)风险/博彩业俱乐部的成员来说，这可是一条好消息。芝加哥大学的MBA学生确实具有从事博彩业的天赋，今年1月他们蝉联第二届MBA学生年度扑克大赛冠军就可以充分证明这一点。一些学生到拉斯维加斯参赛时对有可能到那里工作充满兴趣，并拜会了赌场的管理人士。但大多数学生只是参赛而已，对于去拉斯维加斯就业可没有多大兴趣。例如，扑克大赛的冠军莱昂纳多?库珀曼(Leonard Cooperman)表示，“拉斯维加斯给我留下了很好的印象，但对我来说，这里是成年人娱乐的场所，而不是开始职业生涯的理想场所。”库珀曼已经申请在毕业后去贝尔斯登(Bear Stearns)的投资银行部门就职。
