New Zealand’s skills shortages notwithstanding, some interesting job market trends are emerging around the world. According to a global student exit survey released recently by the Graduate Management Admission Council, MBAs and other business school graduates on the job market might do well to look beyond traditional sectors to fields such as technology, manufacturing, and healthcare. The survey found that job seekers in those sectors were more likely to have an early job offer than those searching in larger, more traditional fields such as finance/accounting, products & services, and consulting.
The survey of 3,049 business school graduates at 111 universities was conducted by GMAC, the non-profit organisation that conducts the GMAT exam on behalf of graduate business and management programmes worldwide.
The GMAC Survey looks at how business school graduates view their programmes and offers a snapshot of their early job search and career intentions.
Some key findings regarding job sectors for business school graduates:
- Technology is emerging as a promising sector for business school graduates, as 61 percent of those seeking jobs in the tech industry had job offers, accounting for 15 percent of all students with early offers. In 2010, just nine percent of students with early offers were in the technology industry.
- Manufacturing and healthcare/pharmaceuticals may be the undiscovered beaches of the business school job market. Although they account for just seven percent and five percent, respectively, of the students with early offers, students searching in these sectors had the greatest success rate, with 74 percent reporting at least one offer.
- Consulting is the most popular field for career-switchers, as 27 percent of all career-switching graduates with job offers were in consulting. Among all job seekers, 21 percent of those with job offers are in consulting, on par with 2010 (20 percent).
- Finance/accounting is the top sector for graduates with job offers who are not switching industries after graduation. Twenty-six percent of all those with job offers were in this sector, slightly higher than last year (24 percent) but still lower than in 2010 (30 percent).
- Government/non-profit remains a steady sector for business graduates, accounting for five percent of the graduates' early job offers. Some 62 percent of those seeking jobs in government/non-profit had early offers, about the same as last year and five years before.
For a copy of the report, go to: www.gmac.com
