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MBA In 2014: Jobs And Pay Set To Remain Strong

Good news for MBAs in 2014: MBA Job prospects and salaries are set to remain strong. MBAs from ESSEC, CEIBS and Dartmouth Tuck explain how b-school is a career-starter.

Wed Dec 18 2013

BusinessBecause
There is good news for MBAs come the New Year, as employment figures for 2014 reveal that the MBA Jobs market will remain strong. 

Salaries are also set to remain roughly the same as in 2013, according to new research by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). 

GMAC researchers surveyed 211 employers in 33 countries who are planning to hire MBAs in 2014. According to the report, employment will remain the same, with 72 per cent of employers expecting to hire MBA graduates in the New Year (up from 71 per cent in 2013).

The report says that the majority of employers also plan to maintain or increase head counts for new MBA hires.

42 per cent of employers also plan to pay their MBAs the same salaries in 2014 as they did this year, and 45 per cent said they would increase wages for new MBAs to keep up with inflation. Inflation is currently at about 1 per cent in the US.

There is further good news, as just two per cent of employers surveyed said they would pay MBAs less in 2014 than they offered this year, according to the report.

Master in Management students are also set to receive a 5 per cent increase in employer demand, while Master of Finance students' demand will decrease 1 per cent, according to GMAC.

The research will ease tension among US MBAs after Michigan State University's report last month predicted that the MBA Jobs market in the States would decline by 25 per cent. The report's focus on the US may explain the disparity.

GMAC's report cites the economic uncertainty in the euro zone, slowing growth in emerging markets and lower confidence in the US political climate as affecting employers' ability to hire MBAs.

A consultancy employer in the US, who remained anonymous, said: "The job market is still fragile. Government decisions and actions will impact how aggressive companies are in their hiring efforts." 

Another consulting employer from Europe, one of the most popular MBA career functions, said that it "remains an extremely difficult market" in the region.

They continued: "The combination of clear technical abilities with an MBA study makes candidates more desirable. Local language skills are key as well." 

MBAs remain confident that b-school will provide them with careers after graduation. Julian Arnaud, who graduated from ESSEC Business School in 2012, said that an MBA was "essential" to landing a job in the video games industry.

He was hired by Gameloft, an industry leader, in 2013. "I applied for jobs at video games companies before and the fact that I had never been to business school was a minus on my profile," Julian told BusinessBecause.

"It was missing from my resume and I now know that it was essential."

Catie Griggs earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and soon after graduating, landed a business development position at Turner Sports - one of the leading sports broadcasters in the US.

She got the job through contacts she made at Tuck and thinks an MBA gave her a boost in the jobs market. 

"An MBA has really differentiated me from my peers, because I have a diverse background and an understanding of various aspects of business," she said.

"Because of that MBA education I was able to break myself out of a business development role and I have evolved into special-projects person.

"Without it I wouldn't have had the opportunity or skill-set to make the leap."

Jose Antonio Talleri is a South American who moved from Peru to begin an MBA at AGSM, one of Australia's best-ranked b-schools. After working at PwC for a number of years, he hopes to transition into marketing.

Now the Vice-President of AGSM's Marketing Club, he is confident an MBA will help him secure a job in Sydney once he graduates in 2014.

"I think wages in Australia are higher than in Peru; a job in Australia would enable me to recover my MBA investment quicker," he told BusinessBecause. "I wanted to study an MBA that would enable me to make a career switch into marketing, and AGSM's exchange opportunities with strong marketing-focused b-schools will help me make that transition.
 
"The possibility of finding a job here is what attracted me to a career in Australia. The country’s economy hasn’t been badly affected by the global financial crisis. Australia also has a well developed tourism industry and I hope to work in that sector."
 
Vishrut Singh, a Lancaster MBA, thinks you need to do more than just attend b-school to enhance your career prospects. "Form an objective," he said. "We all have experience in some field or are interested in others. Develop these fields and, at the same time, create secondary skills too. An MBA program is a ‘safe place to fail’ - so learn and do whatever you can. Make the most of it."

Opportunities for MBA internships are increasingly strong. According to GMAC, 14 per cent of employers plan to expand their internship program for MBA candidates in 2014. 61 per cent of companies surveyed plan to hire MBA interns in 2014, GMAC says.

41 per cent will maintain the number of MBA interns at 2013 levels, according to GMAC's report. 

Julien Ganty is hoping his summer internship will get him a career after graduation. He left behind a law career in his home, Belgium, to study an MBA at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. 

After a summer internship in the city with Fiat-Chrysler, working on business development for the APAC region, Julien is confident an MBA will get him a finance career in China. 

"Those business projects are the most interesting part of the MBA for me," he said. "When you go and work with companies in China, you get a real sense of doing business in the region, and CEIBS is really great for getting a good taste of business here."

Julien wants to launch a career in Asia after graduation and is confident an MBA will get him there. The internship has been crucial to his career development.

"I got my internship through the Career Development Center at CEIBS," he added. "They provided me with the support to get this interview, but also to be ready to start this internship and I learned a lot - not just about the automotive sector in China, but also about the legal system."

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