Tech Hiring in 2025: A Challenging Landscape
Some tech jobs are not expected to return anytime soon. If 2023 and 2024 marked the years when tech hiring fell back to Earth, 2025 is proving that gravity still has a hold.
The tech sector is navigating through another year of caution, contraction, and recalibration. Layoffs continue at a steady pace, with over 23,000 workers let go across 93 tech companies so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. This follows a brutal 2024, during which more than 152,000 tech workers lost their jobs. TrueUp estimates even higher global layoffs in 2024, with over 260,000 roles eliminated, including 15,000 at Intel, 14,000 at Amazon, and 12,500 at Dell.
For business schools—especially their freshly-minted MBAs who are just weeks away from graduation—the implications are hard to ignore. At Harvard Business School, 23% of job-seeking Class of 2024 MBA graduates were still looking for work three months after graduation, more than double the figure from just two years ago. Kristen Fitzpatrick, managing director of MBA career and professional development at HBS, stated, “Going to Harvard is not going to be a differentiator. You have to have the skills.”
This reality is echoed beyond Boston. At UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, for the first time in over two decades, consulting has overtaken tech as the top industry for Haas grads in 2024. The pipeline to FAANG companies—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google—and adjacent stalwarts has narrowed, with many firms either freezing MBA hiring or cutting internship spots altogether. The Duke Fuqua School of Business has seen its tech placement drop 15 percentage points since 2021.
The slowdown is particularly felt by international students and career-switchers, who often rely on MBA internships to pivot into tech. However, all students are feeling the pinch: European B-schools like London Business School, INSEAD, and IESE have also experienced significant declines. One such career switcher, a Wharton MBA, noted, “It looks like we’re headed into a tough economy in general right now.”
Tech Placement Trends Across Business Schools
| Business School | Tech Placement 2022 | Tech Placement 2023 | Tech Placement 2024 | Change (2022–2024) | |---------------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|---------------------| | Harvard Business School | 19% | 16% | 16% | -3 | | Stanford Graduate School of Business | 30% | 24% | 22% | -8 | | Wharton School (UPenn) | 17% | 13.5% | 14% | -3 | | MIT Sloan School of Management | 23% | 24% | 19% | -4 | | Columbia Business School | 16% | 11% | 10% | -6 | | Northwestern Kellogg School | 20.5% | 17% | 20% | -0.5 | | Chicago Booth School of Business | 15% | 15.5% | 15% | Even | | UC Berkeley Haas School | 33% | 30% | 24% | -9 | | NYU Stern School of Business | 17% | 14% | 9% | -8 | | Duke Fuqua School of Business | 23% | 17% | 12% | -11 |
The weakening of the B-school-to-tech pipeline predates the current industry downturn. According to data from the Graduate Management Admission Council, Gen Z—the youngest members of the workforce—are less likely to consider careers in tech, with women and underrepresented U.S. candidates drifting away from the sector in increasing numbers. Consulting remains the favorite industry for all B-school grads, with tech fast fading as the No. 2 choice.
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