The MBA class of 2008 is harvesting a bumper crop of offers, but given the poor quality of today’s economic soil, the class entering this fall may not reap the same rewards.
“The Fortune 500 were very active last fall and most schools saw a 20 percent increase in the number of companies coming to campus,” reports Maury Hanigan, president of Hanigan Consulting Group in New York City, a campus recruiting firm that produces the MBA Scouting Report for corporations. “Student organizations and schools were overwhelmed by employers who wanted to give presentations or set up events last fall.”
However, MBA recruiting always lags the economy by two years, so those entering MBA programs now will graduate in a different market, she warns. “It takes so long for companies to build their presence on campus and put in place an effective MBA program that they’re reluctant to shut them down when the economy slows,” Hanigan says. “It’s a bellwether when you know how to read it.”
Despite the economy, companies are still recruiting MBA students at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, says Pat Perrella, senior associate director of the school’s MBA Career Development office.
“What I think is happening, especially in the financial industry, is that firms are laying off more experienced people with bigger salaries, but they don’t want to turn off the spigot of incoming talent,” he says. “They did that in the tech bust of 2000, and five years down the road, they had a real problem filling vice president spots, because they didn’t have that rising talent coming up through the firm. They’re trying to avoid that.”
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Demand is particularly strong for MBAs with finance, accounting and information technology experience, says Patricia Di Nunzio, regional managing director for recruitment firm The Mergis Group in Columbus, Ohio. “They’re very placeable,” she says. “Every organization has a need for a good, solid financial analyst with two to three years experience and an MBA.”
Six weeks before graduation, some MBA students at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business were still waiting for job offers, because their first-choice employer was a startup or small business that doesn’t hire nine months before graduation, like large firms do. Stacey Rudnick, director of MBA Career Services, says she has an increasing number of MBA students eschewing traditional investment bank, corporate finance and consulting jobs in favor of niche positions in real estate, entertainment, corporate social responsibility and nonprofits.
At Notre Dame, students who limited their job search to single cities or small lists of acceptable employers were having a harder time finding jobs, Perrella says. “If you are geographically tied down, you’re limiting your pool [of potential employers],” he explains.
The hiring environment has not been as robust for international students, who typically make up about a third of the class at top-tier universities, Rudnick says. “Because of H-1B visa caps, we continue to see that, unless there’s a change in immigration laws, it’s hard for companies to get visa applications through,” she explains.
Proceed with Caution
If the economy continues to weaken, the job market could be especially hard for MBA graduates who went directly into their program from undergraduate school. That’s what happened to new graduates who flocked to MBA programs during the 2001 to 2004 economic downturn, says Phil Gardner, director of research for the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. “Employers were negative about that, because those young people didn’t have a lot of experience before they got those expensive MBAs,” he says. “There was a huge supply of MBAs that came out in a weak economy that was slow to respond. We’re just finally seeing some employers increase MBA hiring. In the last two years, it’s gone up about 11 percent.”
Whether they came from the workforce or undergraduate school is unclear, but more students are headed to MBA programs these days, which will mean more competition for jobs in the next few years.
Nearly two-thirds of full-time business education programs received more applications in 2007 than they did in 2006. Among part-time programs, 69 percent reported increased application levels, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). And 63 percent of executive MBA programs -- typically geared for professionals with eight or more years of experience -- said more applicants came to their doors in 2007 compared with 2006, according to GMAC’s latest data. The most competitive executive MBA programs typically have high placement rates.
Earning an MBA won’t change overall job market conditions or solve your personal job woes if you have little experience and then enroll in a school that is not selective, Gardner says. “You spend a lot of money and there’s no guarantee you’re going to get that money back,” he says. “Go to Wharton, you’ll get your money back. But if you go to a [low-ranked] state university or a for-profit online school, there’s no guarantee.”
“The Fortune 500 were very active last fall and most schools saw a 20 percent increase in the number of companies coming to campus,” reports Maury Hanigan, president of Hanigan Consulting Group in New York City, a campus recruiting firm that produces the MBA Scouting Report for corporations. “Student organizations and schools were overwhelmed by employers who wanted to give presentations or set up events last fall.”
However, MBA recruiting always lags the economy by two years, so those entering MBA programs now will graduate in a different market, she warns. “It takes so long for companies to build their presence on campus and put in place an effective MBA program that they’re reluctant to shut them down when the economy slows,” Hanigan says. “It’s a bellwether when you know how to read it.”
Despite the economy, companies are still recruiting MBA students at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, says Pat Perrella, senior associate director of the school’s MBA Career Development office.
“What I think is happening, especially in the financial industry, is that firms are laying off more experienced people with bigger salaries, but they don’t want to turn off the spigot of incoming talent,” he says. “They did that in the tech bust of 2000, and five years down the road, they had a real problem filling vice president spots, because they didn’t have that rising talent coming up through the firm. They’re trying to avoid that.”
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Demand is particularly strong for MBAs with finance, accounting and information technology experience, says Patricia Di Nunzio, regional managing director for recruitment firm The Mergis Group in Columbus, Ohio. “They’re very placeable,” she says. “Every organization has a need for a good, solid financial analyst with two to three years experience and an MBA.”
Six weeks before graduation, some MBA students at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business were still waiting for job offers, because their first-choice employer was a startup or small business that doesn’t hire nine months before graduation, like large firms do. Stacey Rudnick, director of MBA Career Services, says she has an increasing number of MBA students eschewing traditional investment bank, corporate finance and consulting jobs in favor of niche positions in real estate, entertainment, corporate social responsibility and nonprofits.
At Notre Dame, students who limited their job search to single cities or small lists of acceptable employers were having a harder time finding jobs, Perrella says. “If you are geographically tied down, you’re limiting your pool [of potential employers],” he explains.
The hiring environment has not been as robust for international students, who typically make up about a third of the class at top-tier universities, Rudnick says. “Because of H-1B visa caps, we continue to see that, unless there’s a change in immigration laws, it’s hard for companies to get visa applications through,” she explains.
Proceed with Caution
If the economy continues to weaken, the job market could be especially hard for MBA graduates who went directly into their program from undergraduate school. That’s what happened to new graduates who flocked to MBA programs during the 2001 to 2004 economic downturn, says Phil Gardner, director of research for the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. “Employers were negative about that, because those young people didn’t have a lot of experience before they got those expensive MBAs,” he says. “There was a huge supply of MBAs that came out in a weak economy that was slow to respond. We’re just finally seeing some employers increase MBA hiring. In the last two years, it’s gone up about 11 percent.”
Whether they came from the workforce or undergraduate school is unclear, but more students are headed to MBA programs these days, which will mean more competition for jobs in the next few years.
Nearly two-thirds of full-time business education programs received more applications in 2007 than they did in 2006. Among part-time programs, 69 percent reported increased application levels, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). And 63 percent of executive MBA programs -- typically geared for professionals with eight or more years of experience -- said more applicants came to their doors in 2007 compared with 2006, according to GMAC’s latest data. The most competitive executive MBA programs typically have high placement rates.
Earning an MBA won’t change overall job market conditions or solve your personal job woes if you have little experience and then enroll in a school that is not selective, Gardner says. “You spend a lot of money and there’s no guarantee you’re going to get that money back,” he says. “Go to Wharton, you’ll get your money back. But if you go to a [low-ranked] state university or a for-profit online school, there’s no guarantee.”
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