Job Offers Up In Tech & Healthcare

EXPECTED SALARY GAINS BY STUDENTS GIVEN THEIR WORK EXPERIENCE

Source: 2014 GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey

Source: 2014 GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey

A DECLINE IN THE PERCENTAGE OF MBAS WITH AT LEAST ONE EARLY JOB OFFER THIS YEAR

What’s more, the survey found that job seekers in the healthcare, technology and manufacturing sectors were more likely to have an early job offer than those searching in larger, more traditional fields such as finance/accounting, products & services and consulting. That’s quite a surprise because typically consulting, finance and big consumer product companies extend their job offers earlier than most firms because their MBA recruiting efforts tend to be based on internships.

As expected, the job market remains strong, though the survey revealed a slight decline in the percentage of MBAs with at least one early offer.  In the U.S.,  57% of the responding MBAs said they had a job offer when surveyed, down three percentage points from 60% last year. Still, that’s nearly double the 32% who had offers during the same time period in 2010. In Europe, those with job offers fell even more slightly to 56% from 57% a year earlier (See table below).

Most of the decline appears to have occurred  in full-time one-year MBA programs. About 45% of the one-year MBA crowd had received at least one job offer, down seven percentage points from 53% in 2013. In contrast, 60% of two-year MBA students already had a job offer, roughly equal to the 61% number in 2013.

MBA JOB SEEKERS WITH EARLY OFFERS OF EMPLOYMENT

Source: GMAC 2014 Global Management Education Graduate Survey

Source: GMAC 2014 Global Management Education Graduate Survey

A SNAPSHOT OF EARLY JOB SEARCH AND CAREER INTENTIONS FOR THE CLASS OF 2014

The survey of 3,049 business school graduates at 111 universities was conducted by GMAC, which administers the GMAT exam. The data is in the 15th annual Global Management Education Graduate Survey which looks at how business school graduates view their programs and offers a snapshot of their early job search and career intentions. A total of 62% of the graduating students were involved in a job search, and another 4% were either self-employed or intending to pursue entrepreneurship at graduation.

Some other key findings:

Technology is emerging as a promising sector for business school graduates, as 61%  of those seeking jobs in the tech industry had job offers, accounting for 15% of all students with early offers. In 2010, just 9% of students with early offers were in the technology industry.

Manufacturing and healthcare/pharmaceuticals may be the undiscovered beaches of the business school job market. Although they account for just 7% and 5%, respectively, of the students with early offers, students searching in these sectors had the greatest success rate, with 74% reporting at least one offer.

Consulting is the most popular field for career-switchers, as 27% of all career-switching graduates with job offers were in consulting. Among all job seekers, 21% of those with job offers are in consulting, on par with 2010 (20%).

Finance/accounting is the top sector for graduates with job offers who are not switching industries after graduation. Twenty-six percent of all those with job offers were in this sector, slightly higher than last year (24%) but still lower than in 2010 (30%).

Government/non-profit remains a steady sector for business graduates, accounting for 5% of the graduates’ early job offers. Some 62% of those seeking jobs in government/non-profit had early offers, about the same as last year and five years before.