General Career Information: MBA Jobs
Job opportunities are once again on the rise for MBA grads. Find out more about the career outlook for MBA holders.
The global financial and economic crises dashed the job hopes of many MBA graduates. Today, you face a better situation. Albeit slowly, the MBA job market is expanding once again. Emerging and recovering companies alike are placing wanted ads. The number of MBA internships is also increasing.
"This time last year, I had to check to see if my phone was still plugged into the wall," Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern University, told US News and World Report. "It didn't ring. People weren't looking to hire. This year, my phone is ringing."
MBA Career Trends
More students should be hired this year than last year, according to the 2010 Corporate Recruiters Survey of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. It may take you, however, more time to find an MBA job and you may have only one offer. As a result of the competitive market, MBA salaries are expected to remain between $80,000 and $90,000, similar to those in 2009.
Since it's more complicated to land jobs now, MBA schools are offering personalized career services to students and alumni. MBA advisors are expanding lists of national and international contacts; posting jobs and advice regularly on professional social network groups; and increasingly suggesting MBA students and alumni to highlight achievements prominently on their resumes.
The percentage of MBA students taking jobs in Asia has more than doubled in the past five years, reaching some 10 percnt, according to vault.com. Asian firms including Infosys and Tata are actively recruiting in the United States.
More Fortune 500 companies are also hiring international students to manage operations in their home countries. Companies focus on finding students who are familiar with the language, customs and geography of booming parts of the developing world, such as Brazil, China and India.
In the future, experts expect that more students will move abroad in search of international experience and higher paying jobs.
MBA Career Changes in Recent Years
Landing a Wall Street MBA job is becoming fiercely competitive, according to Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, and Patrick G. Cullen, authors of Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads, published by Harvard Business Press. Investment banking analysts are no longer leaving their entry-level jobs to pursue MBA studies to become associates. They are promoted directly into these positions, leaving fewer job openings for incoming MBA graduates.
To aggravate matters for MBA job seekers, investment banks are increasingly pursuing PhD graduates in business, finance, mathematics, physics and operations to tackle highly technical jobs. Consulting firms are also replacing some MBA graduates with doctors, lawyers, and PhDs in economics, applied math, physics, life sciences, and computer science, according to Datar, Garvin and Cullen.
Growing, Dying MBA Industries and Jobs
You should focus on jobs on the health care, pharmaceuticals, energy and utilities, corporate finance and accounting industries. Other industries with strong recruiting results include government, non-profit, technology and biotechnology. In Europe, the luxury goods industry is booming and searching for MBA graduates.
You could land jobs in marketing and sales, corporate finance, and supply chain. When it comes to management consulting, investment banking, venture capital, private equity and real estate, you could face a more complicated situation.
Maricelle Ruiz-Calderon
Maricelle Ruiz-Calderon has worked as a marketing consultant, professor, and journalist in the United States and Europe. She possesses experience in a variety of sectors, including technology, education, consumer goods and financial services. Maricelle earned a Master in Journalism from Northwestern University and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
2010 Corporate Recruiters Survey • Graduate Management Admission Council
ROBBIE BROWN - Job Market Stabilizes for Business Students - Mar 07, 2010 • The New York Times
Naomi Newman - MBAs are moving up and East - Mar 16, 2010 • Vault.com
Matt Symonds - Jobs For New MBAs Are Back - But They're Different - Aug 03, 2010 • Forbes
Alison Damast - MBA Job Market Shows Fragile Upswing - Jun 17, 2010 • Business Week
Matt Symonds - Weaving Creative Careers into an MBA Mix - Mar 17, 2010 • Business Week
Brian Burnsed - More M.B.A. Graduates Will Get Jobs in 2010 - Jun 18, 2010 • U.S. News and World Report
Martha Lagace - What Is the Future of MBA Education? - Q&A with: Srikant M. Datar and David A. Garvin - May 03, 2010 • Harvard Business School
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