To capture the sentiments in India’s top rung MBA schools vis-à-vis placements for 2010, MBAUniverse.com with its research partner Synovate has conducted the third edition of annual ‘MBAUniverse.com Career Aspirations of MBAs Survey – 2010’. The survey reveals insights into the dreams of MBA students with respect to their final placements in the year 2010.

Job profile Vs. Handsome salary

Money is not the most important criteria for management graduates. ‘Job Profile’ is the most important criteria while choosing a job. Overwhelmingly, 78% of MBA second-year students at India’s top 25 B-schools said that Job Profile was “most important factor” while choosing a career. It is the job profile that will provide them the base for future growth. The MBAs are seriously concerned about the things that will keep their minds busy day and night and are obviously very choosy with the job profile.

You are known by your Company

The second most important criteria for choosing a job was the corporate image of the company. 34% of the students said that the corporate image of a company really matters. They would love to see the names of biggies in their bio-data. The MBAs are very clear on their goals with respect to the type of company they would like to work for.

The Management Consultancy companies like McKinsey, E&Y, Accenture are rated the best with 43% votes. Close on the heels with 36% votes are the Indian diversified companies like: Tata’s, M&M and the Aditya Birla Group etc. MNCs like Unilever are also high up in preferences with 33% votes. Sector focused Indian corporates and PSUs – do not have many takers in terms of preference. MBAs are obviously looking for jobs that provide them more challenges and varied learning experiences.

In view of the last year’s financial meltdown the MBAs were asked if the major international financial services firms still attract them. The answer was yes. International financial services firms continue to be most preferred by management grads and seem to have achieved pole position among the current batch of B-school students.

Sector matters

The third important criteria for choosing the right job is the ‘sector’ of the industry to which the company belongs to. 32% of the MBAs give good weightage to the sector while deciding on the company they will certainly join.

The MBAs were asked in the survey ‘Which are your top sectors of choice where you will seek placement?’. The highest percentage of 57% goes to Management Consulting which figures at the top of the heap. 40% would like to work in an FMCG company, 35% would love to work in an Investment Banking firm, 30% would be happy in the Banking & Insurance sector and there are also many takers for the IT/ITES and Media & Entertainment sectors with 27% each in both the sectors.

Bright future Vs. Fat salary

‘Salary’ was rated as one of the ‘least important’ criteria with just 29% second year MBAs students saying it was most important criteria. Obviously the MBAs of today understand that salary is directly proportional to the company they join. So they are giving more preference to the company. They also know that a good company will provide them with a much better future with good growth opportunities rather than just a fat salary. MBAs are now more future-oriented rather than filling their pots with gold hurriedly.

Location: Does it matter?

Location is of least concern for MBA students while choosing their career path.

The MBAUniverse.com Career Aspirations of MBAs Survey – 2010 was conducted across top 25 leading MBA schools of India, which include IIM Calcutta; IIM Lucknow; IIM Indore; IIM Kozhikode; Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi; SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai; IIFT New Delhi; Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar; Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai; MDI Gurgaon; Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi; Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay and many others. 500 second year students from these schools participated in the survey.

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