MBA Job Outlook Better Than Ever In 2017

THE RISE OF DATA ANALYTICS CONTINUES

Data analytics is the hottest new thing in graduate business education, as Poets&Quants has reported for some time. GMAC provides even more data to back up the rise of analytics, showing the high esteem holders of these degrees are held in — and the high demand for them among employers: Sixty-nine percent of employers plan to place recent grad business school hires into data analytics roles in 2017, GMAC found, trailing only marketing, business development, and finance roles (each with 71%).

“Besides Master of Management and finance and accounting MBAs, data analytics are the No. 1 program that companies are seeking out to hire from,” Schoenfeld says. “Every industry is looking to hire data analytics graduates.”

The value of a data analytics degree is “the ability to work with data that cuts across industries,” Schoenfeld continues, adding that the healthcare/pharmaceutical industry is the most likely industry to hire a new data analytics degree holder, with 41% of healthcare companies affirming their intention to do so in GMAC’s survey. “Healthcare is one of those industries that actually have big data, and they need people who really understand and can crunch that data and come out with insights.”

NEW WRINKLES IN SURVEY: JOB ROLES DIFFERENTIATED, STARTUPS EXAMINED

GMAC’s 2017 recruiter survey boasts some fresh wrinkles. For the first time respondents delineated roles for new MBA hires, labeling positions generalist versus specialist and tactical versus strategic. “Based on the strength of these skill sets,” GMAC reports, “employers will seek MBAs to help strategize for the future or to implement company goals.” The skill sets ranked highest by employers? Communication skills, with four of the top five skills employers seek in new hires falling into this category, including oral and written communication, listening skills, and presentation skills. Among the other most-sought-after skills: teamwork skills, such as adaptability, valuing others’ opinions, and ability to follow a leader.

Also for the first time this year, GMAC’s survey report breaks out responses among startups — and the outlook is promising there, too. “Three in 4 startups plan to hire recent MBA graduates in 2017,” the report reads, “up from the 52% that hired them in 2016. More startups also plan to make 2017 hires from graduates of Master in Management (37%), Master of Accounting (23%), and Master of Finance (25%) programs.”

“When we looked at what kind of programs these startup companies are targeting, we saw that entrepreneurship was targeted by startups three times more likely than the other types of companies,” Schoenfeld says. “It seems these programs are providing value and skill sets that will help the startups. … These startups are looking to take their businesses to the next level, looking beyond the startup phase, and they want to bring in the business skill needed to get beyond that.”

BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR INTERNS

There’s good news for MBAs on the internship front. Employers are more likely to offer internship opportunities to MBA students GMAC found — and once they do, they’re more likely to hire those interns to full-time positions. However, that good news doesn’t extend to business master’s students.

Sixty-five percent of employers globally and 74% of U.S. employers plan to offer internships to MBA students in 2017, the survey found; however, GMAC also found that only 27% of employers globally plan to offer internships to business master’s students. Last year 56% of U.S. employers hired more than half of their MBA and business master’s interns to full-time positions.

What companies are the best bet to land that coveted internship? Big ones. Of companies with fewer than 100 employees, 51% have MBA interns, compared with 78% of companies with 10,000 or more employees, GMAC found.

DON’T MISS THIS YEAR’S MBA JOB MARKET BETTER THAN EVER and FIRMS PLAN TO HIRE MORE MBAs