MBAs would do well to look beyond traditional sectors for jobs: GMAC

MBAs and other business school graduates on the job market might do well to look beyond traditional sectors to fields such as technology, manufacturing, and healthcare, suggests a global student exit survey taken by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

The survey found that job seekers in these 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. GMAC is a non-profit organization that conducts the GMAT exam on behalf of graduate business and management programs worldwide.

GMAC surveyed 3,049 business school graduates at 111 universities and found out that overall, some 57% of class of 2014 MBA and other business school graduates seeking jobs had at least one early offer. That’s down slightly from 60% in last year’s survey but nearly double the 32% who had offers at the same time period in 2010.

“This snapshot of the early job market for business school graduates demonstrates that graduate business degrees are useful in a wide variety of careers. While demand remains strong among traditional industries, business school graduates shouldn’t overlook alternative sectors, which are actively seeking MBA and other business school talent,” said Gregg Schoenfeld, GMAC survey research director.

The 15th annual Global Management Education Graduate Survey 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 four% were either self-employed or intending to pursue entrepreneurship at graduation.

Although salaries vary widely by industry, job level, and work location, the median increase in salary of those with job offers was 80% over their pre-degree salary. That’s up from the 73% increase reported by business school graduates with early job offers in 2013.

Some 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

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