Wall Street Doesn't Want You Unless You're a Robot

Want to work on Wall Street? Suit up, turn your spell check on, and leave your risk-taking, self-starter attitude home.

When finance industry professionals that interview new MBAs were asked to identify skills they deemed most important in applicants, 75 percent picked communication skills, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek survey of 1,320 recruiters conducted as part of our 2014 MBA rankings (including 212 from financial services, banking, and accounting companies). Recruiters also prized analytical thinking (which 60.8 percent said was highly important), motivation and drive (52.4 percent), and the ability to work collaboratively (also 52.4 percent). Those surveyed could name up to five skills, so the numbers don't add up to 100 percent.