If you’re looking for lots of sun, beautiful beaches, and a bustling business headquarters, Los Angeles is likely your city. So, it’s no surprise that it’s also a top location for earning an MBA. Not only is Los Angeles home to many top business schools—such as UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and the USC Marshall School of Business—but it’s also a central hub for tech startups and Fortune 500 companies.
Of course, this means is that Los Angeles is also an excellent city for MBA internships. There are a wealth of opportunities and companies where MBAs can start their careers. We’ve outlined some of our favorite Los Angeles internship opportunities below.
Los Angeles Internship Opportunities You Need to Know
21st Century Fox is an American multinational mass media corporation headquartered in New York City, but with a large office in Los Angeles. It’s the fourth largest media conglomerate in the U.S.
Both USC Marshall and UCLA Anderson have sent MBA students to intern at 21st Century Fox in the last year, according to their latest employment reports. These MBA students have the unique opportunity to participate in a summer internship program, which typically includes 20-25 hours per week of work.
More than 600 internships are offered each year in a range of divisions from film to television and sports. In addition, 21st Century Fox interns can work in a broad range of departments from marketing to finance, production, information technology, legal, digital, human resources, and business development and strategy.
Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California, Amgen Inc. is a multinational biopharmaceutical company with a keen interest in MBA talent. Last year, Amgen hired 10-15 students out of UCLA Anderson, according to the school’s employment report. They were also a top hiring company at USC Marshall for full-time employment and internships.
As the world’s largest independent biotechnology firm, Amgen is the ideal company for MBA candidates interested in working in the biotech industry. MBA internships are offered in a variety of fields including finance, operations, marketing, or commercial leadership. According to the Amgen website, internships for first-year MBA students serve as the primary source of talent selection for the company’s full-time positions.
Located in El Segunda, CA, Mattel Inc. is one of the most well-known toy manufacturing companies in the world. They’re best known for brands such as Fisher-Price, Barbie, Hot Wheels, and American Girl. In 2017, the UC Irvine Merage School of Business sent six MBA students to Mattel for an internship opportunity and another four MBAs were hired full-time, according to the latest employment report.
Mattel Inc. offers internships for both full-time and part-time students interested in working in their marketing, finance, supply chain, or human resources divisions. Their Los Angeles internship programs are typically 12 weeks in length and often lead to full-time employment offers.
On Glassdoor, one MBA intern spoke about their experience at Mattel saying, “Mattel attracts diverse talent for various roles with serious intent to hire. Mattel’s summer internship is full of events and speakers that are specifically set up to welcome and educate interns, and the internship provides a great way for MBA students to try out the company before coming on full time.”
It won’t be surprising to hear this, but, Deloitte has a considerable presence in Los Angeles, CA; so it’s no wonder that the company hires many MBA students from the top business school programs in the area. Last year, Deloitte was the third largest employer of MBA students at UCLA Anderson. So, it’s no surprise that Deloitte made Fortune’s list of “25 Top MBA Employers.”
Internship opportunities vary at Deloitte with many options in consulting with focuses on either strategy and operations or business technology. Other internship opportunities include a business analyst summer scholar as well as a tax consultant internship. Depending on an MBA student’s interest and background, they can join various teams at the company.
In 2012, CNN Money ranked Nike as the 9th best company for MBAs to work for, and in the six years since, not much has changed. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company looks to Los Angeles for many of its internship opportunities, which is currently one of the best ways to gain full-time employment at the company.
Nike internships are offered in almost every division of the company from technology to finance, supply chain, merchandising, legal, marketing, procurement, analytics, and more. MBA students who are chosen for a Nike internship will find themselves working on a team project over the course of 12 weeks with a project pitch at the end of the summer. There are also social events throughout the summer. UCLA Anderson and USC Marshall both sent MBA students to Nike in 2017.