Retailers might instead offer a merchandising position, but that confounds most MBA graduates. It's not marketing. It's not finance. It's just not one of the buckets that business school students typically try to put things into. If MBAs aren't selling their skills, industry hasn't sold itself well, either.
Few retailers have well-defined career paths for MBAs, and few recruit on campus.
Many, says the Gap's Fisher, are scared off by what they perceive as MBAs' salary demands and sense of self-importance. Plus, Miller notes, retailing has a reputational barrier. In consulting you can at least feel like a more sophisticated grunt, with PC and travel, rather than being a grunt behind the cash register. Indeed, the industry's reputation hasn't changed much in 20 years. But listen to the talk coming from the retail industry today and you could believe that the environment is changing.