With the year 2015 over on a positive note for MBA graduates, 2016 appears even stronger as far as employability prospects for MBAs are considered. This is what that is revealed in GMAC survey released on January 14, 2016.
Releasing the findings of its 2015 Year-End Poll of Employers, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reveal 2015 hiring numbers and robust 2016 hiring projections that reflect a continued healthy demand for recent graduates of master-level business programs — especially MBAs. According to the GMAC findings 96% of responding employers agree that hiring business school graduates creates value for their companies and 68 percent agree that recruiting graduates of MBA and business master’s programs is a priority in their company’s hiring plans.
Findings in this report represent survey responses from 179 recruiters from across 159 companies of varying sizes and industry sectors located in 31 countries or regions worldwide. A majority of the employers participating in this year’s survey indicate that they will be striving towards improving performance and productivity, expanding their customer base, and launching new products and services and less focused on overcoming economic challenges and cutting costs than in recent years.
MBA employability to rise in 2016
According to the projections revealed by GMAC, the employability for MBAs would increase from 71% to 75% while the demand for Masters in Accounting and Master in Management would increase from 29 to 34% each. Apart from this, for Non business Masters the employability prospects are proposed to increase from 48% in 2015 to 59% in 2016.
A greater share of employers intend to hire graduates of Master of Accounting and Master in Management programs in 2016 than did so last year. In addition, 73 percent of responding employers plan to offer internships to MBA candidates in 2016 — GMAC surveys have indicated that internships remain one of the most successful ways for Master’s-level business school graduates to receive job offers. 92% of the responding employers that offered MBA internships in 2015 plan to increase (26 percent) or maintain (66 percent) the number of MBA internship openings in 2016.
These positive developments echo what recent business school graduates say about the value of their degrees. In a September 2015 GMAC poll of recent graduates, a vast majority of alumni from the class of 2015 said their graduate management degree helped prepare them for the job market. In fact, 3 to 4 months after graduation, full-time two-year MBA alumni in the class of 2015 reported an employment rate of 91 percent — five percentage points greater than the class of 2014 reported in September 2014.
Sharing the information with MBAUniverse.com, Bob Alig, GMAC’s executive vice president for school products said “Employer demand for graduate management talent is projected to remain strong in 2016 for MBAs and other master’s-level business candidates. Recent graduates from business and management programs should see high demand for their skills because employers understand that they are valuable assets to their organizations.”
Graduate Management Admission Council is a nonprofit education organization of 213 leading graduate business schools from around the world and owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT exam), now celebrating its 60th year and used by more than 6,100 graduate business and management programs worldwide. GMAC is based in Reston, Virginia, and has regional offices in London, New Delhi and Hong Kong. The GMAT exam is the standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programs worldwide. GMAT is continuously available at 630 test centers in 115 countries.
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