MBA Job Market Reaches All-Time High

HEALTH CARE AND PHARMACEUTICALS: Hiring plans for health care and pharmaceutical companies will be similar to 2014. Three out of 4 (75%) companies plan to hire recent MBA graduates in 2015, similar to the 74% that hired in 2014.

ENERGY AND UTILITIES: Nearly all (96%) respondents from the energy and utilities sector indicated they plan to hire MBAs in 2015, an 18 percentage point increase over the 78% of employers that hired MBAs in 2014.

MANUFACTURING: Employers in the manufacturing sector report increased demand for all major business school candidate types. Roughly 81% of employers plan to hire MBA grads in 2015, up from 74% last year.

JOB OUTLOOK FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Despite the upbeat look at MBA jobs, the hiring outlook for international students at business schools is fraught with several obstacles. “For those planning to return to their country of citizenship, they must conduct a job search hundreds or possibly thousands of miles away from their targeted job market,” notes GMAC. “International students who seek opportunities back home must often travel vast distances and the cost of going home for interviews quickly becomes an expensive proposition. In fact, 43% of graduating international students who reported they were not seeking employment at the time GMAC surveyed them in 2014 were actually waiting until they got closer to graduation to begin their job search.”

International students who want to stay in the country where they studied may face a different set of obstacles, such as getting legal documentation, possible language barriers, and cultural differences. “Globally, among the employers who reported plans to hire business school graduates in 2015, 29% plan to hire an international candidate. An additional 27% of employers indicated they are willing to hire an international candidate, but do not have specific plans to do so this year.

GMAC said that employer hiring plans for international candidates differ by world region, industry, and company size. By region, companies in Asia-Pacific are the most likely (43% of respondents) to have plans to hire international students in 2015, in contrast to roughly a quarter or so of employers in the United States (28%), and Europe (23%).

HIRING PLANS BY EMPLOYERS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Globally, a greater proportion of finance and accounting (38% of respondents) and consulting (36%) firms have plans to hire international candidates, compared with other industries worldwide. GMAC said this may be due in part to the specialized nature of the skills needed to work in these industries.

PLANS TO HIRE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS BY INDUSTRY

More than a third of the largest companies that were surveyed (5,000+ employees) report plans to hire international candidates; double the rate of small companies (fewer than 100 employees). The availability of legal staff, defined company policies and financial resources, as well as a global demand for talent may explain the willingness of larger companies to hire candidates requiring legal documentation.

The GMAC report cited the most commonly cited obstacles that keep an employer from hiring graduate business students who require legal documentation to work outside their home country:

• High cost and expense (36% of respondents);

• Legal paperwork/documentation process (33%);

• Limited visas at country level (30%);

• Uncertainty about future status of candidate (27%);

• Language barriers (18%);

• Additional time involved in hiring process (16%);

• Security issues (security clearances, etc.; 8%); and

• Cultural differences (7%).

“Even companies that are willing to hire international candidates or that have definitive plans to hire international students in 2015 face some hurdles in accomplishing these hiring goals,” said GMAC, citing the limited availability of visas. “Interestingly, language barriers pose a greater concern for companies who will hire international candidates than they do for those with no plans.”

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