Job market remains favourable for business school graduates in 2015

What turned out to be a strong job market for business school and management degree graduates in 2014, is projected to continue into 2015, according to the latest Graduate Management Admission Council‘s (GMAC) Year-End Poll of Employers.
This year’s hiring outlook holds steady for 2015 graduates as nine out of ten employers planning to hire business school graduates expect to maintain or increase the number of job openings for these hires compared with 2014. A forecast strengthened by findings from the poll such as, 96 percent of employers worldwide concurring that graduate business school hires create value for their companies.
“The solid job prospects for B-School talent seen over the past several years and again reflected in this poll, gives prospective students good reason to consider pursuing these degrees as part of a strategy to drive their career goals,” said Rebecca Estrada Worthington, GMAC’s Survey Research Manager.
“Our data show that even in the depths of the recession, business and management degrees can provide a measure of job protection and opportunity. Today, in a recovering global economy, management degrees can be a powerful driver of confidence and provide fuel for an individual’s career growth,” Estrada Worthington added.
The poll of 169 employers in 33 countries, conducted in late 2014, serves as an early view into the 2015 job market for MBA, master of management, accounting, finance, and other specialized business master degree-holders.
The greatest hiring demand for B-school talent remains recent MBA graduates, while the largest increase in hiring demand is projected to be for Master in Management talent, as reflected in the eleven percentage point increase in firms who hired this category of graduates in 2014.

• 72 percent of employers expect to hire MBAs in 2015, compared with 69 percent that hired them in 2014.
• 41 percent expect to hire masters in management graduates compared with 30 percent that hired them in 2014.
• 34 percent expect to hire master of accounting graduates, compared with 31 percent that hired them in 2014.
• 35 percent expect to hire master of finance graduates, compared with 31 percent that hired them in 2014.
• Employers’ plans to hire newly-minted bachelors graduates is projected to be slightly lower in 2015 (78 percent expect to hire bachelor’s degree holders, compared with 82 percent that hired them in 2014); and hiring plans for experienced direct from industry hires will hold steady.

The annual Year-End Poll of Employers provides an early look at hiring plans. For a copy of the poll report, go to gmac.com/employerpoll.

Read the related article, “An MBA Holds its Perceived Value, Even in Lean Times”, by GMAC researcher Gregg Schoenfeld in Harvard Business Review on March 25, 2014.
Additional insights into the employment landscape for business school and management graduates can be found in GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey, released in May 2014 in partnership with EFMD and the MBA Career Services and Employer Allian
c