Market Gains for MBA Jobs Seen in On-Campus Recruiting

Now that we’ve entered the height of the academic summer and a number of 2015’s MBA cohorts have already been released back into the general population, it seems like the perfect opportunity to look back and assess the year’s recruitment activity at business schools thus far.

This is the precise aim of a new survey from the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance (MBA CSEA), which brings positive news – the findings of the Spring 2015 Recruiting Trends Survey present a picture of a very healthy market for MBA jobs in 2015. 

Among almost 100 responding schools, 74% noted an increase in on-campus recruiting between January and June 2015, compared to the year previous. This proportion is a significant rise on the 55% of schools who noted an increase on 2013 during the same timeframe last year. This year, only 11% of schools said that on-campus recruiting was down on 2014 thus far. With regards to the sample's geography, approximately 80% are based in the US, with a smattering of schools in Europe and Canada also included.

Admittedly, among business schools who defined themselves as being ‘top-20’ institutions, the year-on-year rises were notably less pronounced – 46% of these schools said on-campus recruiting was up and 31% said it was flat – but then perhaps a greater degree of consistency should be expected from this elite category, as one would think them unlikely to be the first institutions cut by recruiters in a bad year. In any case, among those who placed themselves in the ‘21-50’ and ‘51-100’ ranking categories, an uptick was noted by 63% and 64%, respectively.

MBA CSEA pleased with market’s progress

Damian Zikakis, president of MBA CSEA, said that the results were pleasing and indicative of an MBA jobs market that continues to strengthen.

“More than two thirds of the 92 survey respondents reported an increase in on-campus recruiting. And a majority of programs reported an increase in job postings, as well,” Zikakis, who is also director of career services at Michigan Ross, added.

Indeed, 60% of responding schools said that job postings had increased between 2014 and 2015. Although, in this case, that rise is smaller – down from 70% - on the equivalent figure reported by MBA CSEA this time last year.

Industry trends in MBA jobs and on-campus recruitment

So, where have business schools noted rises in the availability of MBA jobs? In 2014, technology reportedly saw the biggest year-on-year increase, but this year that honor belongs to the consulting industry. Across both these industries, however, an increase in recruiting activity was cited by more than 60% of respondents.

The only other industry in which more than half of schools noted an uptick in recruitment was that of pharmaceuticals, biotech and healthcare products. However, the manufacturing, consumer products and nonprofit sectors all improved on their equivalent figures from last year.

Energy and petroleum was far and away the worst performing sector in this year’s results - approximately a third of schools admitted to a decrease in on-campus recruitment during a timeframe in which only one other industry – government – was shown to have suffered a decrease, on the year previous, by more than 15% of schools.

Predictions upheld by MBA CSEA findings?

Signs of continued growth in 2015’s market for MBA jobs had been identified in MBA CSEA’s previous report, but how do these results compare with the predictions for 2015 gleaned from the QS TopMBA Jobs & Salary Trends Report 2014/15and from the staff and faculty of leading business schools themselves?

Well, continued growth in the market for MBA jobs was certainly expected by QS’s report, with the US and Canada (who account for roughly 87% of MBA CSEA’s respondents) expected to enjoy a total growth in opportunities of 9%. Worldwide growth was also anticipated in the consulting and technology industries.

A difficult year in energy and petroleum was also seen by many. At the turn of the year, INSEAD’s dean of degree programs and associate professor of finance, Urs Peyer, noted that “energy-related sectors are losing business in the near term,” as one of the principal losers in a context of “huge swings in oil prices, exchange rates, and political instability”.

MBA CSEA’s findings also show us that startup companies continue to assert themselves on the business school recruitment scene. A total of 59% of respondents said startups increased their year-on-year on-campus recruitment between January and June this year - the highest proportion among company types.

While 52% of schools said that large firms (500+ employees) had ramped up their on-campus hiring in 2015, 8% said that large firms had in fact downsized in this respect. These figures look like feeding into a trend noted at the start of the year by Julia Min Hwang, assistant dean for the career management group & corporate engagement at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Hwang noted that, “many of our graduates are opting for startup careers over more traditional corporate offers,” and this could now be being reflected in startups’ presence on campus. 

Lastly, there was further positive news in the MBA CSEA survey when it came to internships. A majority (60%) of schools indicated that internship hiring activity has increased on that seen in 2014 so far this year. Mostly notably, 68% said that there were more technology internships on offer and 55% said that there were more internship opportunities available on campus in consulting and financial services - figures that point to further job opportunities for graduates in the near future.