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M.B.A graduates who spent up to $200,000 on business degrees are struggling to find work for months as opportunities for well-paid roles dry up.

Many graduates from the Spring class of 2023 are still searching for jobs as sectors that traditionally recruit heavily - such as consulting, tech and finance - rein in hiring.

Job listings slumped 15 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to Indeed. And even those who have been lucky enough to secure a role are seeing their start dates pushed back.

Jenna Starr, a graduate of Yale Business School, searched for eight months before finding her job as a sustainability analyst at a healthcare company.

'There are people in the same position as me, for sure,' the 30-year-old told the Wall Street Journal. An M.B.A. at Yale costs $114,860 including tuition, fees and living costs, according to the school.

Jenna Starr, 30, was among 2023 graduates struggling to find work after forking out around $114,000 to complete and M.B.A at Yale

Enrique Melendez said it has been 'painful' searching for a  role following his graduation from University of Texas McCombs School of Business in May

Enrique Melendez, a May graduate from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business M.B.A. program is living on savings while he looks for a position in technology strategy or product management.

'Very quickly, the landscape started turning very, very grim,' said Melendez, 31.

He explained how he had taken on the debt to secure the degree and has been forced to cut back his spending drastically. 

He still hopes it will be worth it in the long run but said 'it's been really painful to have to go through this' in the short-term.

Brittany Tyree, who over sees career and education coaching for the Texas school's M.B.A. graduates, said she had seen a downturn in hires by tech firms, leading to graduates taking jobs in a wider range of industries than usual.

Meanwhile, former skeleton racer for Israel AJ Edelman, who turned to an M.B.A. at Yale to transition into a new sector, has been searching for even longer.

'I had no idea, a year later, I'd still be searching for full-time employment,' he said.

Abigail Kies, head of the Yale School of Management’s career center, said companies are becoming much more selective in their hiring.

AJ Edelman is still looking for work a year after graduating from Yale. He undertook the course as a means to transition from a career in sport.

While M.B.A. graduates are usually hired with little experience because they are considered adaptable, Kies said they are now opting for those with a combination of both attributes.

'The choices employers were making were more based on history and experience than has usually been the case for M.B.A.s being hired,' Kies explained.

Administrators at other schools are noting similar patterns. Officials at Stanford and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business told the WSJ that the number of graduates not immediately hired was in line with expectation but noted that a pandemic surge of hiring in 2021 and 2022 had elevated job placement.

A Harvard Business School spokesman said some students without jobs had received offers, but were waiting for the right role.

M.B.As are often touted as a launch pad to a lucrative career path, despite their often heavy price tag - which can be more than $200,000 at a top school.

Median starting salaries for Stanford M.B.A. graduates rose to $182,500, up from $175,000 compared to 2022. At other schools, salaries averaged to $175,000 in 2023.

Many schools including Texas' McCombs are now starting to offer one-to-one career coaching in hopes of boosting success rates.

MIT’s Sloan School of Management has set up a bi monthly group for job-seekers to share tips and support.

Susan Brennan, Sloan’s assistant dean of career development, said graduates willing to consider a broader range of options have found success in sectors as varied as agriculture, wine and healthcare.

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