MBA Employment Trends: North America

The 2012/13 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report measures the employer reputation of the world’s top business schools, both at home and abroad. Nicole Willson speaks to leading business schools in North America to find out what careers services are on offer to help MBA graduates maximize their employment prospects.

 

One of the biggest MBA employment trends is the ever-increasing globalization of the job market. When recruiters contact students at Elite Global schools, they are looking for candidates who can work not just within their region, but in locations all around the world.

 

Leigh Gauthier is the director of the career centre at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She says that Rotman is getting more traction with multinationals. Since Rotman has a high percentage of international students, Gauthier says that she is “seeing firms come in that are not looking for Canadian head offices, but are actually looking for talent globally.”

 

As a result of current economic conditions, recruiters are also looking for MBA graduates who are adaptable. According to Sheryle Dirks, associate dean for career management at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, employers are looking for employees that can “demonstrate flexibility amid rapidly changing business conditions, develop productive relationships across cultural and language barriers, and make sound decisions in alignment with core company values even when operating with incomplete or imperfect information.”

 

Another trend is the MBA employer perception of Canadian business schools, which have increased their level of employer recognition relative to their US peers this year. Of the seven Canadian schools in the Elite Global cluster, six have either maintained or improved their regional rank for employer recognition.

 

Ivey has maintained its  position of 12th in North America for overall employer recognition. One of the key factors of Ivey’s success is developing an alumni network and a sense of pride that encourages graduates to believe they are part of something bigger than themselves.

 

Sharon Irwin-Foulon is the executive director of career management and corporate recruiting at University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business. She states the most important aspect of the career counselling process at Ivey is that there is a program for everyone, not just those interested in on-campus recruiting. Relationship management and alumni engagement are ways that Ivey ensures there are options for all of their students, regardless of where they are in their career search. While US schools have relied on alumni networking for years, the notion of alumni giving back to schools used to be unheard of in Canada.