B-Schools Report Stable Recruiting for MBA, Specialized Master’s Programs

Business schools are seeing a stable recruiting market for MBA and Specialized Masters programs compared to the same time period last fall, but concerns continue to linger regarding international student hiring, according to the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance.

Recruitment of MBA and specialised Master’s graduates has gone up especially in the Tech sector followed by Healthcare, Consulting, Financial Services and Real estate, the Survey says.

The 2017 MBA CSEA Fall Recruiting Trends Survey, released on March 26, 2018, presents key information about the recruiting trends for full-time and part-time MBA students, as well as for specialized Master’s program students.

The report is based on confidential surveys completed between January and February 2018 by 94 MBA CSEA member schools, the Tampa, Florida based organisation said.

On-campus recruiting opportunities for part-time MBAs increased for 35% of the institutions (22%) reported an increase in the 2016 survey). More than one-third (41%) reported an increase in on-campus opportunities for Specialized Masters students compared to last year (33% reported an increase in the 2016 survey).

Technology sector recruitment recorded a hike of 18 points from the 53% reported in 2016. The report is also based on surveys completed between January and February 2018 by 94 MBA CSEA member schools, 77% of them in the United States.

Technology, Consulting, Financial Services, and Healthcare were the strongest sectors in terms of increase in recruiting activity for MBAs and Specialized Masters program students. More than 71% of responding institutions had reported an increase in recruiting activity for the Tech sector for full-time MBA students.

Nearly 37% reported an increase in on-campus opportunities for full-time MBAs in Fall 2017 versus last year (41% reported an increase in the 2016 survey). About a quarter of the top-ranked MBA programs reported an increase of over 6% in on-campus opportunities.

The Healthcare sector recorded 50.6%, Consulting 45.8%, Financial Services 39.8% and Real Estate 35.5%.

However, Government recruitment registered a fall along with Consumer packaged goods at 26.8%, Energy 23.8% and Consulting 20.5%. Non-profits, hospitality and consumer packaged goods reported the largest changes in comparison to the 2016 results in terms of the percentage of respondents reporting a fall.

On-campus recruiting opportunities for part-time MBAs increased for 35% of the institutions (22%) reported an increase in the 2016 survey). More than one-third (41%) reported an increase in on-campus opportunities for Specialized Masters students compared to last year (33% reported an increase in the 2016 survey).

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Start-up companies represented the largest increase in recruiting activity for full-time MBAs based on the type of organizations, while large-size companies represented the largest increase in Specialized Masters recruiting activity.

However, full-time job opportunities for full-time international MBA students fell in more than 68% of the responding institutions. More than 40% of the responding institutions reported a decline in job opportunities for international Specialized Masters students that could be due to uncertainty over immigration and the H-1B lottery.

Here again, Tech with 41.9% reported increased recruitment followed by Consulting at 29%. Hospitality, Manufacturing and media/entertainment reported no increases. Consulting (41.9%), Consumer packaged goods (44.0%), Government (50.0%) and media (42.1%) reported fall of more than 40%.

Founded in 1994, the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance is a global professional association for individuals in the fields of graduate business career services and employers. There are more than 800 members representing a diverse group of more than 200 business schools and corporations located around the world.