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Headlines Job Market Good for MBAs MBA graduates looking for employment in today's market will find jobs most plentiful in the fields of energy, utili- ties, accounting, and finance—and they'll discover that they're more likely to be hired if they recently in- terned at a company that is looking to add employees. While the down economy is still causing some corpo- rations to freeze hiring, those who are bringing in new employees are favoring MBAs. Corporate re- cruiters predict that new MBAs will form a bigger part of the overall hiring mix in 2003 and that they'll still be earning sig- nificantly higher salaries than other graduates. These are among the con- clusions offered by the 2003 Corporate Recruiters Survey just released by the Graduate Management Ad- mission Council (GMAC), McLean, Virginia. One key finding is that tern pools. "For now, students shouldn't wait until the second year of their program to decide on an area of specialization," Wilson said. Survey respondents also indicated that the energy and utilities industry will hire more new MBAs in 2003 than any other sector. However, the largest corporations in high tech, fi- nance, and accounting will hire the most cohorts of MBAs. In addition, intellectual capital," Wilson says. Although the economy appears to be putting less of a damper on re- cruiting than it did last year—55 per- cent of the survey's 940 respondents reported being constrained in their hiring plans, down from 69 percent in 2002—recruiters are being con- servative in several ways. They're cutting in-house training costs by fa- voring candidates with previous in- While the down economy is still causing some corporations to freeze hiring, those who are bringing in new employees are favoring MBAs. employers are much more inclined to make job offers to MBAs who performed internships in their own companies. "MBA students today must be much more strategic in planning their internships—and even more consci- entious in performing them—be- cause employers increasingly view in- ternships as trial runs," says Dave Wilson, CEO of GMAC. Seventy- five percent of survey respondents reported making job offers to their companies' own interns before even interviewing other candidates, and 50 percent of new hires in 2002 ulti- mately came from recruiters' own in- 8 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2003 salaries continue to go up: New MBAs can expect an average starting salary of $80,000 in 2003—34 per- cent more than new holders of other advanced degrees—compared with $75,000 last year. Forty-seven per- cent of respondents reported offering new MBAs signing bonuses averag- ing $10,000. Starting salaries in Eu- rope match those in the U.S. "The MBA remains the global currency of dustry experience, and they're saving money on moving and related ex- penses by leaning toward candidates who are already located within their regions. U.S. companies, for in- stance, show an increasing tendency to hire U.S. citizens for domestic as- signments. Sixty-eight percent of new hires for stateside jobs this year are Americans, up from 60 percent in 2002.