If you’re growing weary of all the MBA data forms and essays and interviews and anxiety—keep your eyes on the prize! That light at the end of the tunnel? Well, a recent employer poll from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) suggests it just keeps getting brighter.
Each November, GMAC conducts a short year-end poll of employers, asking them to reflect on what business school graduate hiring actually looked like that year and what they anticipate hiring to look like in the year ahead. GMAC’s most recent Year-End Poll of Employers Report, released yesterday, paints a promising picture of hiring trends for upcoming crops of graduating MBAs.
“We continue to see optimism—companies are still optimistic about the future, and they are expressing that in their desire to hire business school graduates,” says GMAC Director of Research Gregg Schoenfeld, one of the report’s author. “The overall message here is that it is a good time to go to business school and, from prospective candidates’ perspectives, it’s a good time to move forward on that goal to apply.”
Indeed, nearly eight out of every 10 employers (79 percent) say they expect to hire MBA graduates in 2017. That’s up from the 68 percent who hired MBAs in 2016. Of those planning to hire MBAs in 2017, almost as many (78 percent) say they plan to hire as many or more MBAs as they did the year before.
Not only do more employers expect to welcome MBAs into their ranks—the majority plan to pay them more as well. More than half—58 percent—said they expect to increase starting salaries for MBAs in 2017 at or above the rate of inflation. Another 40 percent report that they will maintain 2016 salary levels.
Explaining this bullishness, in part, is employers’ confidence in the value MBA graduates bring. In the most recent poll, 96 percent of responding recruiters said that hiring recent business school graduates creates value for their companies. And 71 percent cite bringing on MBAs and non-MBA business master’s graduates as a priority in their hiring plans.
GMAC’s 2016 Year-End Employer Poll surveyed 167 recruiters representing 140 companies in the United States and 26 other countries around the globe. Among the respondents were 36 companies in the Fortune 500, including 21 Fortune 100 firms. The majority of respondents—71 percent—were U.S. companies, which is typical for this survey, according to GMAC’s Schoenfeld.
The good news extends beyond MBAs—in fact, more employers plan to hire new employees in each candidate type they were asked about than they did in 2016. This includes candidates with master’s in accounting and management, as well as other business master’s, non-business master’s, bachelor’s and experienced business hires. Roughly a third (31 percent) expect to hire candidates with master’s degrees in management (31 percent) and accounting (29 percent).
Master’s of Management Degree Hiring Falls Short of Projections
That said, in terms of actual numbers in 2016, hires of candidates with master’s of management degrees fell short of expectations. Just 19 percent of employers reported hiring these grads in 2016, even though 34 percent of employers in the 2015 year-end poll projected hiring them. A lower percentage of U.S. employers (16 percent) hired these candidates this past year, driving down the overall results, even as nearly a third of employers in Europe and Asia (32 percent of these employers combined) did hire these candidates. Projections for the year ahead are more promising, with 31 percent of employers overall expecting to hire candidates with master’s of management degrees.
MBA Internship Opportunities Plentiful in 2017
As far as MBA internships are concerned, opportunities here, too, look to be plentiful in 2017. Of companies surveyed that offer internships, 66 percent have plans to hire MBA interns in 2017, and 82 percent of those plan to hire the same number or more MBA interns than in 2016. These numbers are off slightly from last year’s—when 73 percent of employers cited plans to provide MBA internships, and 92 percent of those expected to hire the same or more MBA interns than in the prior year. Of this shift, Schoenfeld said it was “not strikingly disconcerting, but something to note.”
Company Direction and Its Impact on Hiring Plans
The GMAC Year-End Employer Poll also calls on employers to characterize their company direction in the coming year as “overcoming challenges,” “maintaining current market position” or “expanding and growing.” In another positive sign, the majority (56 percent) of employers responded that their company is poised to continue expanding and growing in 2017, as compared to 27 percent who expect to maintain their current market position and 16 percent who anticipate spending the year ahead overcoming challenges. Notably, projected MBA hiring was strong across the board, with 74 percent of companies with challenges to overcome planning to bring MBAs on board to help, 77 percent of companies set to maintain current market position planning to hire MBAs, and 80 percent of companies factoring MBA hires into their plans for expansion and growth.
Asking employers what business school graduates can do better, the survey did reveal some advice for business schools and their students. “While tech has been saturated with new MBAs the past few years, programs do seem to be doing a better job of preparing students for careers in tech,” wrote a small U.S. tech firm. “Still, very few candidates have direct experience in tech from before their MBA studies.”
A mid-size Asia-Pacific products and services employer, meanwhile, stressed the need for MBAs to be willing to roll up their sleeves. “Be more flexible to take on work which may require you to dirty your hands,” that employer wrote.
One final interesting note about the latest employer poll is that several employers voluntarily shared that their hiring plans could depend on policy decisions of the incoming U.S. president. This makes since given that seven out of 10 respondents were U.S. employers and the poll was conducted in October and November 2016, during the lead up to and culmination of the U.S. presidential election. As an example, one respondent from a small U.S. consulting firm viewed the current job market as strong, but added “…with the election results, I’m more anxious.”
Schoenfeld concedes that he didn’t have the foresight when they designed the questionnaire to include specific questions about the impact of the election but that GMAC does plan to monitor the election’s impact on hiring in future surveys. “Definitely in the Corporate Recruiter Survey, which will be conducted in February and March, we will collect data on if and how the election has changed employers’ hiring goals or strategies,” he says. | 
