2015 MBA Hiring Expected to Grow

Hired

Among those companies that planned to hire MBAs in the 2014 poll, 65 percent followed through on hiring, with 15 percent adding more MBAs than planned. However, 16 percent onboarded fewer (and another 5 percent ended up not hiring at all). Compare that to 2015 respondents, where 30 percent projected hiring more than budgeted (with another 46 percent expecting to hire the same number). Only 12 percent anticipated hiring fewer MBAs than projected.

Although employers only followed through on 80 percent of MBA hiring in 2014, that figure tops the actual hiring rate for other master’s degrees, such as accounting (74 percent), finance (78 percent), and management (77 management).

INTERNSHIPS LAGGING

At the MBA level, internships are often the gateway to employment. However, only 55 percent of the GMAC’s sample planned to make internships available to MBAs in 2015. The GMAC also reports that only 16 percent of employers would expand their MBA internship program, while another 33 percent would hold the number steady. Six percent intended to slash MBA internships.

GMAC

Why the droopy numbers for MBAs? As one American consulting firm notes in the poll, experience is prized over potential. “An MBA is now a qualification that gets a candidate to the second interview stage, but nothing takes away from experience in relation to the position [we’re] recruiting for.”

Overall, 87 percent of employers expected to offer internships this year, with bachelor’s degree candidates comprising the vast majority (73 percent). In fact, 23 percent answered that they would increase internships for undergrads, with another 42 percent maintaining 2014 levels.

For business master’s degree holders, internship opportunities are particularly scarce. Only 19 percent of employers anticipate making internships available for master’s of management candidates (and only 16 percent for master’s of finance or accounting). However, these numbers are slightly up from GMAC’s 2014 employer poll.

Percentage of Employers Offering Financial Help To Students

Source: GMAC Year-End Poll of Employers

Source: GMAC Year-End Poll of Employers

Do you believe employers have washed their hands of sponsorship? Have you been warned that it’s a waste of time asking for support? Well, think again according to the GMAC.

Some 51 percent of respondents shared that they make tuition assistance available to employees pursuing a graduate business degree. Most notably, over a third (36 percent) support part-time MBAs, followed by executive MBAs (28 percent), other specialized business master’s (20 percent), and (surprisingly) full-time MBA programs (18 percent).

HIRING DECISIONS DRIVEN BY GROWTH

Since the economic collapse, many companies have followed a “do more with less” mantra. With conditions improving, employers are discarding the penny-pinching mindset in favor of embracing smart growth. The GMAC poll reinforces this trend – and that makes an advanced business degree a better investment than ever.

“Our data show that even in the depths of the recession, business and management degrees can provide a measure of job protection and opportunity,” said Rebecca Estrada Worthington, GMAC’s Survey Research Manager, in a statement. “Today, in a recovering global economy, management degrees can be a powerful driver of confidence and provide fuel for an individual’s career growth.”

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