MBA Job Market Reaches All-Time High

EXPECTED SALARY INCREASES

Roughly 54% of employers told GMAC that they will fill marketing and sales positions with an MBA or other specialized business master’s graduate. These companies will place the majority (80%) of these new hires in mid-level positions. Data analytics and finance functions tied for second place in the list of job functions employers most seek to fill in 2015, with 51 percent of employers planning to hire recent graduates to occupy these roles.

EMPLOYER DEMAND BY FUNCTION AND JOB LEVEL

Nearly half of employers that intend to hire graduate management degree holders in 2015 plan to place some of their new hires in a region outside of the company’s home location. Companies that place recent hires abroad are more likely to be large international companies that have more than 5,000 employees, and are also more likely to hire candidates that require legal documentation.

Globally, the majority of companies plan to place new graduate business hires within the same region where they recruited these candidates. For example, 98% of U.S. recruiters plan to place grads they hire within the United States. At the same time, however, 27% of US-based recruiters plan to place new hires in Western Europe, 26% in East and Southeast Asia, and 19% in Latin America.

EMPLOYERS ALSO PLAN TO HIRE MORE GRADS FROM SPECIALIZED MASTER’S PROGRAMS

The good news wasn’t only for MBA candidates. Graduates of the increasingly popular specialized master’s degree programs are finding increased demand for their services as well. The percentage of employers with plans to hire specialized business master’s graduates in 2015 is 10 to 14 points higher than a year earlier. In 2015, the survey found, 51% of employers plan to hire Master in Management graduates, 44% expect to hire Master of Accounting graduates, and 46% plan to hire Master of Finance graduates. Of these companies, the majority (between 49% and 58%) plan to increase the number of new hires from specialized business master’s programs compared with 2014.

Asia-Pacific employers will also target specialized business master’s candidates in their 2015 staffing plans, indicated by the relatively high percentage of companies planning to hire from Master in Management (66%), Master of Finance (58%), and Master of Accounting (55%) programs. Six in 10 (61%) Latin American employers plan to hire recent Master of Finance graduates in 2015, nearly double the share of companies that hired these candidates last year (32%). The percentage of employers planning to hire recent Master of Accounting graduates in 2015 (33%) is also nearly double the share of companies that hired these candidates in 2014 (17%).

THE INDUSTRY-BY-INDUSTRY BREAK OUTS

With a few exceptions, GMAC’s new survey shows double-digit (or near double-digit) increases in the percentage of companies across industries that expect to hire MBA and business master’s candidates in 2015. Last year, in comparison, the proportion of companies hiring business school graduates rose across most industries, but hovered in single-digit growth ranges for the most part. The outlook by industry:

CONSULTING: Demand for recent graduate management talent continues to grow in the consulting sector. Some 81% of responding consulting companies plan to hire MBAs in 2015, up 11 full percentage points from 70% in 2014. Additionally, an increased proportion of companies in 2015 plans to hire Master in Management graduates (47% of companies, up from 39%), Master of Accounting (32%, up from 22%) and Master of Finance (36%, up from 24%) compared with 2014.

FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING: B-school graduates seeking employment in this sector will also find more job opportunities in 2015 than last year’s class. Some 84% of finance and accounting companies plan to hire MBAs, up 11 percentage points from 73% of companies that hired MBAs last year. Also notable, 65% of companies plan to hire recent Master of Finance graduates, up from 49% in 2014.

TECHNOLOGY: Employers in the tech sector report increasing demand for business school graduates. In 2015, 93% of technology employers (up from 84% in 2014) plan to hire MBAs and between 8% and 13% more companies than last year will be hiring recent graduates of master’s-level programs in management, accounting, and finance, respectively.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: Demand for business graduates within this sector is projected to increase across all program candidate types in 2015. Some 86% of companies plan to hire MBA graduates, up 13 percentage points, compared with 73% in 2014. The largest expected gain is reported for Master of Accounting graduates, with 48% of companies planning to hire these graduates in 2015, more than twice as many companies that did so last year.