Globally, more fresh business school graduates are landing jobs. Sixty-two per cent of management education graduates surveyed this year by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reported that they had a job offer, up from 54 per cent in 2011.
The 2012 GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey and the Corporate Recruiters Survey reflect responses from 5,366 graduating members of the class of 2012 at 136 graduate business schools worldwide.
According to the surveys, companies with fewer than 1,000 employees accounted for the largest proportional increase in demand for graduates among the 1,096 global companies surveyed in 40 countries.
Seventy-nine per cent of companies said that they plan to hire recent MBA graduates in 2012, compared with 72 per cent in 2011. The average number of planned new hires an employer surveyed increased to 17 in 2012 from 13 last year.
Surveys showed that employer confidence varied by region, reflecting the unevenness that characterized the global economy. On an average, companies in the Asia-Pacific region and the US expect continued growth in hiring in 2012 for all management graduates, whereas European companies project that hiring levels in 2012 will be similar to that in 2011.
Key findings
According to Mr Dave Wilson, President and CEO of GMAC, expansion of hiring among smaller companies was one of key findings of the surveys.
Across the board, leadership skills topped the list of skills employers want in their new hires. Employers also want them to be able to organise and combine information from multiple sources to solve complex problems and make sound judgments. The most popular industries in which class of 2012 graduates looked for jobs were products and services, consulting, and finance and accounting.