Upbeat Prospects for 2012 MBA Jobs

Several U.S. employers offered observations on international hires to GMAC researchers:

“We don’t hire international candidates to work in the US unless they have permanent authorization to work in the US,” one respondent said. “We hire international candidates if they want to work in their home country. If they do, we hire them directly to their home country.” Added another, “It’s very expensive to hire international talent and takes a long time…we do transfer internal employees internationally within the company.”

Similar to last year, GMAC said this year’s respondents reported that their companies’ top organizational goals for 2012 are to continue improving performance and productivity, expand their customer base, and launch new products, while at the same time reducing costs and overcoming economic challenges. Seven out of 10 (71%) companies reported that improving performance and productivity is a primary organizational goal for 2012. More than half of participating companies also aim to reduce costs (59%) and expand their customer base (57%).

GMAC researchers sent the invitation for its year-end poll of employers to 3,358 employers. As of Nov. 16, 229 respondents from 216 companies had completed the survey—a 7 percent response rate. Among the participating employers were A.T. Kearney, Accenture, Bain & Co., Booz Allen Hamilton, Caterpillar, Citigroup, Dell, Deloitte, DuPont, General Electric, General Mills, IBM, Intel, John Deere, Johnson & Johnson, the World Bank, and Toyota.

Several of the largest recruiters of MBAs apparently did not respond to the survey, including McKinsey & Co., Boston Consulting Group, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan Chase.