Although MBA grads are more likely to seek employment in the consulting, finance, health care, and tech industries, many recruiting options exist for those seeking employment in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. Employment reports from top MBA programs for 2024 noted that MBA students were recruited to CPG companies including The Kraft Heinz Company, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch InBev, SC Johnson, Estée Lauder, Land O’Lakes, Campbell Soup Company, and Nike. There are also a few “fresh” options hiring in the CPG space such as HelloFresh and Beyond Meat.
Professionals from a variety of backgrounds—including finance, consulting, marketing, engineering, operations, and sales—can all make a successful transition into the CPG industry post-MBA. Traditionally, many CPG recruiting opportunities have been in product management, which is really a general management role. Product managers are responsible for the profit and loss of the brand as well as everything pertaining to the product including the supply chain, manufacturing, marketing, advertising, consumer insights, and sales. In many ways, product management is the ultimate MBA goal, as product managers must bring their knowledge of all functional business areas into their work.
Here are several tips to keep in mind if you plan to transition into CPG post-MBA:
Build on your prior expertise and fill the gaps with an MBA.
- Finance: Someone with a finance background can leverage their finance skills to manage budgets while using an MBA to develop stronger operations and marketing knowledge. Leveraging business school to build supply chain and marketing experience will help round out a finance professional’s skill set and give them the general management background that they need in a product or brand management role. Several of my clients who worked in finance have utilized an MBA to excel in brand management. If you have finance experience in the CPG industry, you already have excellent prospects stemming from your CPG experience. Joining an MBA program’s marketing club and participating in specialized CPG-focused conferences or courses also will help finance professionals make a successful transition to CPG.
- Consulting: A professional with consulting knowledge can leverage their strategic background while deepening their CPG industry knowledge and marketing skills through an MBA. If you are currently working in consulting, try to work on a project in the CPG space prior to your MBA studies to gain some early insight into the challenges facing the CPG industry.
- Engineering: Someone with an engineering background can leverage their operations knowledge while using an MBA to gain marketing and finance expertise. A candidate with strong quantitative skills and an understanding of the manufacturing process has great “raw” materials in their own background that will be transferrable to the CPG industry.
- Marketing: Look for ways to understand marketing before and during your MBA studies. Northwestern Kellogg is known for its annual Super Bowl Ad Review, which is hosted by the Kellogg Marketing Club under the direction of Professors Timothy Calkins and Derek Rucker. Using a more strategic framework in evaluating an ad’s effectiveness will give you some insight into the challenges marketers face when investing in advertising campaigns.
Look for MBA programs with strong CPG recruiting relationships and culture.
Northwestern Kellogg
As a Kellogg graduate, I can’t help but think of the school as an option for candidates who are interested in CPG, as I attended the program in the absolute golden days of CPG recruiting. So many of Kellogg’s emeritus marketing professors including Philip Kotler and Lou Stern are marketing legends. Current professors at Kellogg continue this tradition of excellence: Professor Angela Lee is well known for her research on consumer motivation, and Professor Alexander Chernev teaches the “Strategic Brand Management” course, which would be highly beneficial for anyone considering a career in brand management. In addition, Kellogg was ranked the top MBA program in marketing by U.S. News & World Report in the publication’s 2024 Best Business Schools list.
Although Kellogg graduates are more likely to work in other industries including consulting and tech, the school continues to have an outstanding marketing department and offers other resources to prepare students for successful careers in the CPG industry. Courses in such areas as omnichannel experience strategies, customer loyalty, leading product organizations, and even ethnographic customer insights will give budding marketers a full tool kit to excel in the CPG industry. Another bonus for Kellogg regarding marketing is that there are so many Kellogg alumni in the top ranks of CPG leadership, which is invaluable in building relationships in the industry.
In Kellogg’s Class of 2024 employment report, the school noted that 7% of the full-time class worked in the CPG industry post-MBA. Firms hiring Kellogg MBAs included Procter & Gamble, Kraft Heinz, and Nike.
Wharton
U.S. News ranked Wharton the second-best MBA program for marketing in the publication’s 2024 review of business schools. Wharton offers two marketing majors: Marketing Management and a joint major in Marketing and Operations Management. The school provides a robust number of courses in marketing as well as the “Strategic Marketing Simulation” course to help students gain real-world experience. In addition, Wharton has an active Marketing Club that hosts an annual conference as well as career treks, case competitions, and ongoing lunch-and-learn sessions.
While only 1.4% of the Wharton Class of 2024 reported working in the CPG industry, 7% of the class reported working in the product/brand marketing function. Beyond CPG recruiting from firms including Procter & Gamble and Anheuser-Busch InBev, Wharton graduates also reported working in product management for companies including Amazon and American Express.
Michigan Ross
Michigan Ross was ranked third in marketing among MBA programs for 2024 by U.S. News. According to Ross’s Class of 2024 employment report, about 18% of the class reported working in the marketing function. Some of the companies hiring Ross MBA graduates into marketing roles included PepsiCo, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and SC Johnson. Experiential marketing learning experiences through Ross’s “Multidisciplinary Action Projects” (MAP) course projects provide hands-on learning opportunities. Marketing courses such as “Strategic Market Planning” and “Strategic Brand Management,” along with the very active Michigan Marketing Club, all give Ross students the opportunity to build strong marketing careers.
Duke Fuqua
In the U.S. News 2024 rankings, Fuqua was named the fourth-best MBA program in marketing (tied with Stanford). The Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) provides students with the opportunity to solve real-world problems and gain practical marketing experience through completing an FCCP project. According to Fuqua’s 2024 employment report, 7% of the Class of 2024 reported worked in the CPG industry, while about 11% of the class reported working in the marketing/sales function. Firms that hired the most students into CPG marketing included Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Conagra Brands, and The Hershey Company.
Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB)
Stanford GSB is also tied for number four in marketing among MBA programs in the 2024 U.S. News rankings. The school’s Class of 2024 employment report noted that only 2% of its graduates worked in the CPG industry. However, Stanford did send 17% of the class into the marketing/sales function in 2024. Stanford students interested in marketing can join clubs including the Consumer and Retail Club, the Food and Agribusiness Club, and the Product Club.
Columbia Business School (CBS)
CBS was listed by U.S. News as the sixth-best MBA program for marketing in 2024, and the school offers many marketing resources for its students. Approximately 5% of the Class of 2024 reported working in the CPG industry and 12.5% reported working in the marketing function, according to the CBS 2024 employment report. In recent years, CBS grads were recruited to marketing powerhouses including Anheuser-Busch InBev and Unilever as well as other firms including Estée Lauder and HelloFresh. CBS has roughly 30 full-time and 30 adjunct professors who bring real-world marketing experience to the classroom and teach courses in such diverse areas as design thinking, customer management, and customer-driven product optimization.
Chicago Booth
U.S. News ranked Chicago Booth the seventh-best MBA program for marketing in its 2024 review of business schools. While only 2.3% of graduates from the Class of 2024 reported working in the consumer packaged goods industry and 3.2% reported working in the marketing function, as noted in the school’s 2024 employment report, Chicago Booth does offer some outstanding resources through its James M. Kilts Center for Marketing, including many events geared toward teaching MBA students about various aspects of marketing.
Harvard Business School (HBS)
HBS was ranked the eighth-best MBA program for marketing in 2024 by U.S. News. Although many people think of HBS for general management, product management is a general management role in running all the elements that contribute to the profit and loss for a particular brand. HBS’s case method provides effective training to excel in the CPG industry because students discuss the real-world problems companies face from a variety of functions. From the faculty perspective, Professor John Deighton, the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, has been a widely referenced authority on consumer behavior and digital and direct marketing. And Dr. Jill Avery, a senior lecturer of business administration and the C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator in marketing at HBS, brings practical experience in brand management, as she previously worked in CPG brand management for Gillette, Braun, Sam Adams, and AT&T.
In HBS’s Class of 2024 employment report, the school reported that 3% of the class worked in CPG and 11% of the class worked in the marketing function. Companies including Johnson & Johnson, Instacart, Kraft Heinz, and Nike all hired recent HBS grads.
As you research business schools, remember to look at the details—including employment reports for both full-time and internship recruiting. Note the number of people in the class seeking employment as well as the percentages so you understand how many peers you will have in the class with similar interests.
Another way to evaluate the robustness of an MBA program’s marketing offerings is to look at the activity in the school’s marketing club. Is the club’s website active? Does the club host annual conferences to facilitate networking and information sharing? Pay attention to the details to ensure that you find the right program to help you successfully transition to CPG.
Our Stratus team has lots of experience helping applicants plan their transition to a new industry, such as CPG, through an MBA degree. We are available to start a conversation about your profile through a free consultation. Schedule yours here!