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Graduates from Global 200 business schools in the Asia-Pacific region are recruited by companies both locally and further afield. Nicole Willson looks at how Asia-Pacific business schools have developed coursework and career services that focus on preparing students for careers in the global workplace.

International work placements for Asia-Pacific MBA students

As globalization continues to transform the business world, MBA employers are looking for MBAs who can work anywhere regardless of where they completed their program.
“In today’s globalized world, companies need a more global workforce with international mobility,” states Yvonne Li, director of MBA admissions and career services at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Li goes on to state that MBA employers are looking for employees with an international mindset, who possess the ability to work in different countries and adapt to different cultures. “They will be the ones who can successfully lead a multicultural team, and are therefore highly valued by recruiters.”

“Employers want graduates who have a more sophisticated understanding of globalization and how it affects business,” states David Senior, director of career services at Australia’s Melbourne Business School (MBS).  In order to help give their MBA students a better understanding of globalization, Melbourne Business School’s MBA curriculum includes a required trip to China to work on a real-life business problem. Companies with Asia-Pacific offices outside of Australia have shown a great deal of interest in hiring MBS graduates, Senior adds.

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has seen an increase in the number of global companies that recruit its students. According to VK Menon, ISB’s director of career advancement services, in the past five years the number of international companies recruiting ISB students has risen from nine to 75. These are “premier global companies” such as Goldman Sachs, British Telecom, Deutsche Bank, and British Petroleum.  Menon and his staff bring global recruiters to ISB by reaching out to them. This outreach is designed to help companies understand the value proposition of hiring ISB graduates, encouraging them to come to India to recruit them.

Asia-Pacific MBA employers looking for regional expertise

Asia-Pacific schools like NUS Business School and CEIBS also focus on helping students build their networks and adapt their skills to the needs of regional MBA employers.

At NUS Business School’s career services department, one of the main goals is to help students build their professional network in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The majority of NUS students are not from the region, so cultivating a regional network is seen as a critically important part of the job search for NUS MBAs. Ways that NUS helps students build their network within Singapore include bringing in industry leaders for closed-door sessions with their MBAs and hosting industry-specific cocktail events for local professionals.

Developing inter-cultural skills

NUS’s MBA program emphasizes the importance of culture and culture-related expectations in international business. This has become increasingly important, since companies in Singapore and Southeast Asia have become more diverse and multicultural.

While the corporate workforce was more homogenous in the past, MBAs are now required to work with people of different nationalities, from a variety of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Saima Siddiqui is the senior associate director and head of MBA Team, Career Services at NUS Business School. She states, “Our corporate partners tell us that the greatest strength of NUS MBA graduates is their ability to navigate cultures with maturity, and that this is a sought-after strength among companies that are growing in the region.”

Yvonne Li states that employers recruit from CEIBS because “they can find international talent with knowledge of China.” Some of this knowledge of China comes from required courses such as ‘China HR’ and ‘China within the World’, which are designed to prepare students for the most difficult aspects of doing business in the country. Chinese case studies written by faculty in CEIBS’s Case Development Centre are incorporated into classroom study. CEIBS’s curriculum also includes China Discovery Week, a series of intensive lectures exploring contemporary issues in Chinese business.