Top MBA Employers rank: 13
% of MBAs who want to work there: 7.27%
Headquarters: New York
What makes it so great?
"I did my internship at Goldman Sachs and then joined Blackstone full time after graduation in 2008. I was surprised by how small the team is here. There are around 40 investment professionals in New York and it's an incredible amount of contact with the senior leadership -- even [President] Tony James and [CEO] Stephen Schwarzman. That far exceeded my expectations. We have the ability to work on transactions across the world, be it Hong Kong, Mumbai or London. When you first start out your responsibilities are in the analytic roles, but within a year or two you start to oversee the flow of the transaction, you're negotiating directly, you're responsible for the shape of the deal."
-- Nadim El Gabbani, 2008 graduate of Harvard Business School
Getting hired:
Competition is stiff at Blackstone, which only hired 15 MBA grads in El Gabbani's year from top schools like Harvard, Columbia and Wharton to join its small staff of 1,400. The best way to score a coveted position at the firm is through the company's internship program.
