Record 46% Of INSEAD MBAs Go Into Consulting

One of INSEAD’s three campuses in Fontainebleau, France

ONLY 27% OF MBAS WORKED IN CONSULTING BUT 46% GET JOBS IN FIELD

The bigger story is the increasing dominance of consulting at INSEAD. While only 27% of the school’s MBA students came from the consulting sector, 46% of the graduates enter the field. The result: INSEAD is converting a high percentage of students who once worked in financial services, retailing and consumer goods, energy, the public and non-profit sectors, and manufacturing into the consulting industry (see INSEAD’s Job Transition Matrix below).

Among those who have joined the consulting sector, INSEAD reported that 25% of them will be based in Asia (compared to 22% in 2015), taking away geographical share from Europe (falling from 48% in 2015 to 45% in 2016), with the share of the other regions largely unchanged. This mix mirrors the growth expectations of these regions.

Average consulting salaries remained mostly flat for most regions, with the exception of Asia and the Americas. In Asia, average base salary increased by around 3% while the average base salary fell by 4.3% for the Americas. INSEAD said the fallĀ in average salary in the Americas is mainly due to exchange rate impact and the reversal in regional mix between Latin America (65% in 2016 vs 33% in 2015) and North America (35% in 2016 vs 67% in 2015). This brought the overall average down despite the rise in average salary in the North and Latin America regions of 11% and 17% (without currency effects), respectively.

NEARLY 80% OF THE CLASS CHANGED SECTOR, FUNCTION OR COUNTRY WITH THEIR MBAS

The 46% of the INSEAD class that was hired by consulting, moreover, compares with just 16% at Stanford, 25% at Harvard Business School, 27% at Wharton, and 30% at Chicago Booth. One other consequence of this is that the school’s representation in other sectors, particularly finance and technology, is much lower than many of its rival schools. Last year, only 14% of INSEAD’s MBAs went into financial services, while just 17% accepted jobs in technology. Similar to previous years, 6% of INSEAD’s graduates last year became entrepreneurs post-graduation.

The school reported that almost eight out of ten graduates used their MBA to switch industries, functions or geography. Some 48% of the class changed country, 52% switched industries, while 63% changed function. “This year, our students chose exciting roles with more than 300 different employers in 68 countries, which represents by far the most global and diverse reach of any top MBA programme,” wrote Hastie. “This is made possible thanks to strong employer relations with nearly 600 companies and an alumni network of more than 52,000 in more than 170 countries. In terms of career change, nearly 80% of the class changed one dimension of sector, function or country, with 27% of the class making simultaneous changes in all 3 dimensions.”

(See following page for the list of major employers at INSEAD in 2016)

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.