By Laura Nelson, Co-founder of Behind the MBA and MBA Pathfinders
For some MBA grads, the traditional path is a starting point…. but for others, it might become the backup plan.
With today’s unpredictable job market, some MBA graduates are building portfolio careers, with multiple income streams. This isn’t a totally fringe idea, with an estimated 40% of professionals around the world reporting more than one income stream.
The cost of living keeps rising, and wages haven’t kept up… so the portfolio career is part necessity, part strategy. For MBA graduates navigating a market like this one, it’s an approach worth considering.
Why is this happening now?
The job market and recruiting have gotten more challenging. Across the M7 MBA programs, job acceptance rates within three months of graduation range from 81% at Stanford to 90% at CBS. So, anywhere from 10 to 19% of graduates with offers are either turning them down, waiting for something better, or still searching.
Beyond the immediate post-MBA window, things are a little less certain – we just don’t have the data. Tech layoffs are making waves and grabbing headlines. Even Amazon, typically one of the largest MBA employers, cut roughly 14K jobs last year.
AI advancements add more complications and uncertainty. Roles that once seemed “safe” post-MBA – strategy consulting, product management, financial analysis – are evolving… maybe even faster than MBA programs can keep up?
For many grads, this isn’t just about finding a job, although that’s the first step. It’s about building a career that doesn’t require “perfect” conditions to survive. Sustainability is key.
What does a portfolio career look like?
A portfolio career isn’t just a side hustle… but it often starts there. It’s a combination of income streams, and each might contribute something different – financially, professionally, and personally.
Here are a few examples:
A full-time role in corporate strategy, supplemented by fractional consulting work for early-stage companies and a residential real estate investment.
An MBA graduate who takes a product management role while advising a company in her previous industry.
A former consultant who transitions between full-time roles, using the gaps to teach, advise, or build.
A portfolio career isn’t just the result of failing to land the “dream job”… but could be the result of deciding that one “good” job isn’t enough.
A couple reasons why MBAs are drawn to this model
The motivations for building a portfolio career could be split roughly into two camps… although both could be true at the same time:
Necessity: The job market doesn’t always cooperate. Some MBA graduates finish their programs without landing the job they wanted – this is becoming more common, it seems. Others accept offers and get laid off within a year. The portfolio approach offers a kind of insurance: if one stream disappears, others keep going.
Strategy: Some MBA grads aren’t building portfolio careers because they have to – they’re doing it because they want to. They’ve seen peers get laid off after years of loyalty to a company and / or they’ve calculated a path to financial independence. They’ve realized that skills can compound across different contexts, and that the consulting work makes them better at the full-time job, and vice versa.
Building a portfolio career: what I’ve learned after nearly 20 years
I’ve been building a portfolio career since graduating from Ross in 2008. Initially, this was out of necessity, but over time, it was more intentional.
After graduating, I worked at my family’s business while starting two side ventures: MBA admissions consulting and GMAT tutoring. After a couple years, I landed a full-time job and continued with the family business and admissions consulting. Over time, real estate became another stream.
This wasn’t just a backup plan, but it was intentional and essential diversification – especially when the layoffs happened.
Here are a few things that I’ve learned:
It takes time. Side income rarely becomes meaningful on day 1. For example, my current tech consulting practice was built on relationships I’ve cultivated over the course of my my full-time jobs. This took years.
Skills compound. The work I’ve done in one stream has made me better in the others. For example, I’ve hired and collaborated with MBAs in my tech marketing career. This has helped me advise MBA candidates who are earlier in their careers and pursuing similar paths.
It’s not for everyone. The portfolio approach requires tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to manage multiple commitments, and comfort with changes in income. For candidates who need more stability, a traditional path may be a better starting point.
My advice: start small and stay adjacent. Build expertise in something close to your main line of work, test demand before going all-in, and don’t expect the portfolio to carry you immediately. It takes quite a bit of patience.
Others are exploring similar paths
Danielle Robinson, an HBS grad, has been writing about this, too.
She describes how MBA classmates who didn’t land traditional roles after graduation built their own careers: “When recruiting didn’t pan out, they got scrappy.” They “started consulting for small businesses. Picked up freelance strategy projects. Built creator-led brands from scratch. And a surprising thing happened. They stopped job searching altogether.”
Not all of them were merely giving up…. but they realized how to embrace the backup plan: “It just took the external option disappearing to give them permission to choose it.”
Danielle describes what makes portfolio careers interesting right now: “A single employer is starting to look like the riskier bet. Multiple income streams, a portfolio career, building something of your own – that used to be the unconventional choice. It’s becoming the obvious one.”
This isn’t just about people who couldn’t get the jobs they wanted… although there are a plenty of those. Some just don’t want to be that dependent on a single source of income, identity, and professional purpose.
How does an MBA make this possible?
I often say that the MBA is one of the most versatile graduate degrees available. I do believe that the ROI of an MBA can support a portfolio career. The education doesn’t simply teach finance or strategy…. but it also builds a network, establishes credibility, and creates a platform where many career directions are possible.
The alumni network is also important, and fellow grads and alums can be building blocks of a portfolio career. The MBA degree alone never guaranteed specific career outcomes, but it does open doors to new opportunities.
Downsides and risks for portfolio careers
There are certainly a few risks and tradeoffs to pursuing a portfolio career, including:
Benefits and retirement planning. This gets complex – multiple income sources mean multiple tax situations, perhaps no employer-sponsored health insurance, and a need to self-fund retirement vehicles. Each of these problems are solvable, but they require a great CPA and strategic planning.
Time management. Time is a limited resource, and coordinating deadlines, client expectations, and a primary job can get challenging. The people who do it well tend to be protective of their time.
Your professional identity. It can get complicated. When someone asks what you do, the real answer might be “a lot of things”… and some people don’t know what to do with it. Not your problem, though.
Some research suggests that the ideal portfolio career includes between three and five concurrent income streams… which may be enough to meaningfully diversify, but not so many that things get too complicated. I don’t think there needs to be a hard and fast rule, though – it depends on what you’re dealing with.
The traditional post-MBA path has more volatility than it used to
The portfolio career doesn’t necessarily replace the traditional post-MBA path for most people… but it could run alongside it, supplement it, and – for some like me – outlast it.
If you’re in an MBA program right now, or just finishing one, this is worth thinking about before you need it. Start small, build adjacent, and test demand. Don’t wait for a layoff to realize you wished you’d started sooner!