Want a job at Microsoft? Get an MBA

When you’re fresh out of college and just completed a master’s program, the possibilities of employment are almost endless. As noted on Financial Times, Cornell Jonhson Graduate School student Safiya Miller found this out for herself when she recently completed her Masters in Business Administration and landed a job at Microsoft.

Miller landed a job as an account executive in Microsoft’s Bay Area offices, finding Microsoft’s legacy as the foremost reasons for seeking employment at the Redmond giant. In fact, Financial Times reports that Microsoft is still the top-five tech hirers of MBA students from leading business schools, even with the recent layoffs around the company. It’s mainly the fact that Microsoft knows how to “reinvent itself” that makes the company so appealing, according to Safiya Miller:

“If I was going to move all the way out west, I wanted a team where I could learn and grow… I wanted to learn next to [people] who have not only been in the industry for years but were also experiencing this refresh, rebirth of the company.”

According to stats from the original report, Microsoft hired 30% more MBA graduates this year than last year. Chuck Edward, Microsoft’s head of global talent acquisition, explained in the report that demand for candidates with MBAs has “gone up significantly in the past two or three years,” with hires from “nearly 150 different schools in 40 countries.”

After going through a round of interviews lasting three or so weeks, these MBA graduates earn $160,000 as a median starting salary at Microsoft once fully employed. They also need to go through MACH, the Microsoft Academy of College Hires, a program which places them with mentors and through training events.