Talk to careers advisor and senior figures at leading business schools and they say very similar things. Their recruitment numbers are about level with 2009, they’re cautiously optimistic that the market is improving, but they’re not yet certain.

Business schools are of course not in the habit of advertising declining post-MBA job opportunities, and a number of schools that were approached for this article were reluctant to comment. This has made it difficult to gauge how certain the thaw has been. However Jim Clayton, Director of the Graduate Career Management Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University says: “In general, things are about where they were this time last year, although there are more and more organizations beginning to post jobs. Things are warming up, but they’re not hot yet.”

For Jim, it’s too early to be able to tell whether this hiring is going to be sustained or not. The areas in which he can perceive growth in demand are the banks and healthcare. In these industries, he is seeing new healthcare organizations coming on to campus for the first time, while Bank of America has become one of this year’s biggest recruiters, “As we come out of this recession, it may just be that, as Bank of America were one of the first organizations affected, to let people go, they may just be one of the first to bring people back,” he says.

Across the Atlantic, Leon Richards, Manager Recruiter Relationships at Warwick Business School in the UK has a similar view.

“We saw a big reduction on financial services last year,” he says. “But, this year, they seem to be coming back into activity. For example, we have had Barclays on campus for the first time ever. Last year, activity across all industries stayed steady, and the drops in financial services and consulting were offset perhaps by rises in demand from the energy industry and the public sector. This meant everything stayed level. Financial services and consulting dropped away at the beginning of this academic year but have been the first to pick up in 2010.”

Industries in the frame

Other sectors that seem to be increasing hiring needs are strategy consulting, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), technology and telecoms. This latter sector is of course maturing, and a number of companies are now putting together MBA recruitment programmes whereas before they were hiring less systematically.

“A number of sectors are taking the lead out of the recession, particularly for example technology-driven sectors such as Internet, media, e-commerce, hardware and software manufacturing, and telecoms,” says Jurek Sikorski, Associate Director at London Business School’s Careers Service with responsibility for Business Development (Healthcare and Technology).

Undoubtedly, there has been a lot of churn as business schools have sought out new types of employer to bring onto campus. The impression given is that, if hiring is rising, it is because lots of non-traditional, medium-sized and smaller firms are being tempted onto campus by the prospect of under-employed MBAs and in this way are making up for the drop in demand from more traditional employers.

On top of this, according to Leon Richards at Warwick, these traditional recruiters are naturally much more budget-conscious that they once were. Given that the cost of visiting campuses, running assessment centres and tying up the time of senior management can be as much as £15,000 per hire, in these straightened economic times it has made sense for recruiters to streamline this expense by concentrating on fewer schools, regardless of whether their numbers of recruits are actually up or down.

A similar cost-cutting trend identified at Warwick is for MBA employers to utilise social networking practices. This allows them to establish longer-term relationships with candidates, so putting the talent pool on tap for when they need it and saving money on the costs of traditional recruitment.

Political failure

The MBA recruitment market is not however simply a function of the economic climate; other factors can have an effect. Green energy for example was much touted as the beginning of the recession as an industry that offered a strategic direction for companies to take out of the recession.

“During these difficult times, finding a new driver of our economy is going to be critical,” says Professor Javier Carrillo, Executive Director of the Centre for Eco-Intelligent Management at IE Business School in Madrid in early 2009. “I think that that the environmental challenge will definitely provide a strategic direction to industry.”

Unfortunately the failure of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – the Copenhagen Conference – has left this industry without a way forward.

“In terms of green energy, there was obviously the disappointment associated with the Copenhagen conference in that it didn’t come out with a clear statement of what government needed to do,” says Jurek Sikorski at London Business School (LBS) “This of course would have really spurred the sector as it would have given companies clarity on their future strategic direction.”

Something similar could be said about banking and financial services which is still waiting for politicians to agree on the shape of new national and international regulatory frameworks.

Have MBA, will travel

A final trend is the tendency for today’s MBA recruitment to be orientated towards the emerging markets. Many companies have revised their business plans to target these areas as a source of future growth and this is where they are going to need their people.

“Companies are hiring into Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia,” says Jurek Sikorski at LBS. “Flexibility and mobility are therefore the big requirements for candidates. The MBA resource asset is something that can be moved around. Companies do see things this way and in their requirements they stipulate they don’t only want skills, experience and strong intellectual horsepower but are also looking for flexibility and mobility so that their business can benefit anywhere in the world.”

Jose Ferreira is the Founder and CEO of Knewton

Recently, some business schools* have begun to accept GRE scores in place of GMAT scores.

Some MBA hopefuls were undoubtedly excited by this news. After all, the GRE has a reputation of being easier than the GMAT. It’s a more generalized test, and, of course-there’s no Data Sufficiency! What could go wrong?

But therein lies the problem: There’s no Data Sufficiency section on the GRE.

The GMAT is perfectly designed for business school students. GMAT questions are engineered to mirror the tasks MBA students perform every day in business school. Reading Comprehension-because you’ll be read­ing 50 -100 pages in case stud­ies every day. And Data Sufficiency-because you’ll be skim­ming each case’s exhibits and finan­cials to deter­mine which num­bers are key to crack­ing the case and which are irrel­e­vant. What about Crit­i­cal Rea­son­ing? Well, every day in class you will com­ment on other stu­dents’ argu­ments. And they will com­ment on yours, some­times in pretty snarky ways. So you need some facil­ity in argu­ments, if only to pro­tect your­self from that loud­mouth ex-banker in the Skydeck.

The GMAT is a great test. No, it probably won’t bring peace or spiritual enlightenment to the world. It isn’t the most fun experience of every test-taker’s life. However, it is very well-constructed, with very high scoring consistency. The GMAT excels at its job: that is, testing the skills you will need to be successful in business school.

On the other hand, the GRE General Test is, well, general. This test is designed to test students’ aptitude for graduate-level work-everything from PhD’s in English to a Master’s Degree in Psych. Obviously, the aptitudes need to succeed in one discipline aren’t the same as the aptitudes needed in others-no single test can adequately measure all these aptitudes. In order to succeed in business, and in business school, you need very specific skills. The GRE doesn’t measure these particular skills all that well. The GMAT does.

So why are some business schools accepting the GRE? Well, the GRE is getting better-and it’s about to be significantly revised in order to improve even more. But mostly, the decision to accept the GRE is about access-especially internationally. Many candidates in overseas locations don’t have access to the GMAT. So business schools figure, “If we accept the GRE, we might just find some great candidates who otherwise wouldn’t be able to apply to business school, and who might add an MBA application or two to their pile of Masters program applications.”

For these candidates, the decision to accept GRE scores is a fortuitous one. But the bottom line? If you can take the GMAT, you should. While admissions officers at schools accepting the GRE will accept a GRE score in lieu of a GMAT score, that doesn’t mean they won’t be skeptical. If you submit a GRE score when it’s clear you could just have easily have submitted a GMAT score, it could definitely hurt your application.

Besides, Data Suf­fi­ciency is fun! And more importantly, Data Suf­fi­ciency is equally hard for every­body. It is also highly coach­able. So even if you take a diagnostic and think there’s no way you’ll be able to achieve a competitive enough score to get you into a top b-school, don’t fear. Knewton’s Test Experts have devel­oped the most pow­er­ful strategies for Data Sufficiency-and other question types-out there, and we’d be happy to share!

Fuente: ibtimes.com

Ross Geraghty talks to some leading business schools and attempts to unscramble the spaghetti for you.

In a sense this is a question in two parts. First, and please don’t forget this, what is it that you, the individual graduate, want? Secondly, what do recruiters say they want for the jobs and careers that you are getting your education for? Particularly since the economic downturn, corporates and business schools proactively confer on business education. Recruiters tell the top business schools what they expect from their business managers and the schools respond.

Schools meanwhile work hard to retain individuality and educational rigour; the debate raging around the MBA academic world right now is to what extent corporate governance and ethics should become a core feature of MBA and other business programs.

MBA or Masters?
Essentially, MBAs are a ‘post-experience’ qualification in general management, usually requiring three or more years of work experience, though four to eight years is most common. Schools such as mba.com/school_profile/imd/”>IMD in Switzerland, have students with an average of seven years while Executive MBA, or EMBA, courses are targeted at those with executive experience, ten or more years generally.

The vast majority of MBA courses stress the general nature of the education – there are specialist MBA courses, such as MBA in Wine Management at Bordeaux, but let’s not discuss that here. An MBA graduate will emerge from their program conversant, at least, with several core subjects including marketing, strategy, leadership, entrepreneurship, operations, human resources and so on. This gives them a holistic overview of how businesses work.

David Bach, Associate Dean of the MBA and Professor of Strategy at IE Business School in Spain, says that the MBA “trains young professionals in general areas of management and to emphasize personal communication, leadership and management skills that cover all the areas. In the MBA you roughly do 25% class time in finance and accounting, for example, where the Finance MA is 90% pure finance.”

He goes on to say that the general nature of MBA courses, by definition, offer a very firm grounding in the other core skills such as operations, HR and organizational behaviour whereas MSc in Finance won’t. This is recruiter-driven. “The big banks want students at the cutting edge of financial skills, derivatives, financial engineering, which are electives in an MBA but a core part of the MA. The assumption is a graduate of MA in Finance won’t have do those kind of roles.”

Simon Stockley, Director of Full Time MBA Programs at Imperial College Business School, London, echoes this: “The Masters in Finance is a more quantitative degree featuring a lot of pure maths to equip graduates for corporate finance and Investment Banking jobs. It’s a direct response to requests we have from the city. Virtually all of these graduates get careers in financial institutions.”

Trends
Despite this, trends picked up by the QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey 2009, which surveyed thousands of MBA applicants internationally, show that more and more younger people are interested in a business education, especially in the developing economies of Asia. My own experience of the QS World MBA Tour, which visits 65 cities in 35 countries, shows that Asian candidates in particular are younger than those in Western Europe and North America.

Business schools have to respond to such trends by creating courses more appropriate for a less experienced age group. This is where the Masters course comes in.

Masters courses are ‘pre-experience’, targeted at immediate graduates and those who do not necessarily have work experience.

Simon Stockley says that his school has responded to the trend for younger people to want to get into business schools straight out of university by offering an MSc in Management program. These are designed to provide recent graduates with some differentiation in the labour market when they are not experienced enough or prepared for the MBA. “You’d tend to take the MBA later on and for one of three reasons, for career advancement, which is the dominant driver; to make a change in your career; or for learning more about entrepreneurialism,” he says.

David Bach says that taking students with less than three years work experience on an MBA is rare: “We require five years [experience] at IE Business School; however we do sometimes take candidates with less experience if they have a brilliant trajectory because we value diversity in our classrooms.”

Course focus and teaching styles are essential differences between an MBA and a Masters. Masters courses, says Stockley, “introduce graduates to general management but in a different way. Some cover the same material as parts of the MBA but are more didactic in manner with fewer case studies, less debate and a different style of teaching that is more lecture-based.”

MBA courses tend to focus on teamwork, lots of contribution in class, learning from peers and networking and communication skills.  In this sense the professor is often a hands-off guide for students’ debates, guiding them towards problems rather than providing conclusions, allowing students to make mistakes and research thoroughly themselves.

Specialize or generalize?
Many graduates want to start focusing early. They may say that maths is your strong suit, and that they are not interested in marketing or HR, for example. The business world needs very strong accountants or HR or operations or people with other specializations, so a Masters in Finance, Accountancy, HR and so on are best option for many.  Of course this also allows the graduate to get straight into education again without necessarily having to go into a management position for a few years in preparation for an MBA.

In salary terms, the MBA is perceived to have a slight edge, however the difference between an MBA and a Masters graduate with four years postgraduate experience in a specialization is small. For those wanting to specialize, the MBA may be too general, and you may feel ready to start studying very soon. Likewise, if you want to differentiate yourself in management and aren’t ready for an MBA, Masters in Management courses are designed for you.

Having said that, the MBA is still rightfully considered a major business qualification, particularly, as Simon Stockley says, “from one of the big schools. Reputation is important and people should do as much research as they can to find the school that has the best fit for them.”

The key thinking, then, is: think about your strengths, about where you want to go, about what style of course suits you best and start to plan your career trajectory early.

The message appears to be reaching women across the world, that an MBA and a career in top-flight business management is no longer only the domain of males.Except in India.

Interest in the MBA in India remains very heavily male dominated, with women forming only 17.6% of 526 respondents to the survey, the lowest proportion of all but three (Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan) of the 33 countries on the QS World MBA Tour. This is despite the projections by McKinsey, the international consultants, that India, as well as Brazil, China and Russia, faces a sever shortfall of business leaders to lead the country over the next decade or two.

Ross Geraghty, author of the survey and Managing Editor of TopMBA.com, says: “While interest in MBA programs in India is higher than ever before, it is going against the international trend that fewer Indian women then before are considering applying for business school, especially at a time when they are most needed. I do expect this trend to change over the next five to ten years to fall more in line with international projections, but I don’t think it will reach 40% for many years.”

Worldwide, it is still true that the glass ceiling exists –where women are able to look upwards and see their male counterparts become more and more successful without being able to reach that success themselves. However, QS’ figures point towards a gradual balancing out of the difference between the genders at managerial and boardroom level, and it is here that India will remain far behind until a great deal of work is made to rectify the situation.

This is becoming evident in businesses around the world. In Norway, for instance, 2006 legislation forced the 500 companies listed on the stock exchange there to make the numbers of women on their boards up to 40% within two years. Although seemingly radical, this is in fact an accurate reflection of the interest in business among woman globally.

In terms of salaries, women worldwide still expect to earn less than their male counterparts, even though they currently appear to earn at least the same amount. Around three percent of MBA candidates, both men and women, currently earn over US$100,000. However women’s expectations for future earnings are either lower or more realistic. In the same survey, 38% of men replied that they expect to earn more than US$100,000 per year after graduating from an MBA while only 31% of women felt they could earn the same.

In India the average figure stands at US$35,000 as an average salary for MBA aspirants, with an expectation of earning US$96,000 after graduating. It is this kind of figure that the world’s, and India’s own, business schools are trying to help their candidates achieve. These schools have long admitted the need to attract more female candidates in a bid the shake the MBA stereotype. For women already juggling a family with a career, or those not interested in the traditional route in financial services or consultancy, there has always been a question mark over the need for an MBA qualification and India, it seems now, is still playing catch up in this regard.

Meanwhile, motivations for embarking on an MBA also seem to shifting. While many still wish to follow the tried and test route, 29% of female respondents now say they want to use their qualification to help them set up their own business. This is up from 25% last year.

Ross Geraghty says “The recession has seen a shift in the intentions of MBA aspirants towards entrepreneurialism and self-employment, as careers in consultancy and banking are far harder to achieve then before. This is true across the board, for men and women.”

McKinsey’s projection is that India will have a shortfall of managers over the next decade that could be of significant numbers. It is unlikely, even if all Indian male applicants to business schools were successful, that they alone will be able to fill this need. Geraghty continues: “Business schools worldwide are desperate to increase the diversity of their programs. The deans and admissions officers that attend the QS World MBA Tour are all keen to attract people from as wide a background as possible. What they tell me, on a regular basis, is that they are surprised at how few Indian women are applying to their programs and that applications from talented Indian women would be most welcome.”

It seems that now is the best time after all for Indian women to start taking an MBA education very seriously

ana is a finance student and a moderator for

Unlike the other elements of your MBA application, the GMAT is unique in that it’s 100% under your control: you cannot change the quality of your work experience or your college GPA, but by following the right study plan, you will be able to reach your target GMAT score. For self studiers who have the time, I recommend 2-3 months of prep time.

The following 3-month plan assumes that you can devote about 1.5 to 2 hours per weekday and 5 to 6 hours per day on weekends. As you might have guessed, preparing for the GMAT is quite a time commitment—but your discipline in sticking with this strategy will be rewarded!

First Week – GMAT Research and Study Plan Details

Your shopping list should include:

Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online for concept review

In the very first week of your prep, you should familiarize yourself with the basics of the test: structure, types of questions, directions, time limits, scoring, etc. All these elements are important in helping you understand the logic behind the GMAT. I advise you to read about the test from the makers of the GMAT directly by going to MBA.com and registering as a member.

When you register, you will also be able to download one of the most important tools for your studies, the free GMATPrep practice test software.  GMATPrep tests are considered the most accurate representations of the actual test on the market, featuring real (but retired) GMAT questions.

The information on MBA.com alone will not be sufficient as a full GMAT introduction.  This website does not explain all the mechanics of the test. To better understand the ins-and-outs of the GMAT, you should consider acquiring the Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online 2010, a book that provides an extensive analysis of the GMAT’s computer-adaptive test (CAT) format and the subjects tested. This Kaplan book will serve as an excellent introduction to the test.

After getting some basic GMAT orientation, it’s time to assess your starting performance. The best way to do this is to take one full-length practice test from the GMATPrep software you had downloaded from MBA.com. This practice test will yield three scores: your overall score, quantitative score, and verbal score.

Carefully examine your results to understand your strengths and weaknesses with regard to specific GMAT concepts and question types.

Okay, so now you know where you’re starting from; and hopefully you should have a sense of how much you need to improve as well (look up the average GMAT scores of your target MBA programs on the school websites). The next step is to develop a strategy that addresses your weak spots.

Weeks Two to Five – GMAT maths – Math Focus

Your shopping list should include:

Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook for concept review and practice problems

Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online for concept review and practice problems

Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review for practice problems

Official Guide for the GMAT Review, 12th Edition for practice problems

The math tested on the GMAT is fairly basic. You will never see advanced subjects like Calculus tested. However, if you’ve been out of college for a while, you’ll likely discover that your skills are somewhat rusty.

A note to engineers and other math-minded individuals: no matter how mathematically skilled you think you are, do not neglect prepping for the GMAT math section. There are two reasons for this. First, the quantitative portion of the GMAT features a special type of question, Data Sufficiency. It’s unlikely that you’ve seen this format before and getting used to it takes some diligent practice. Second, in general, quant questions on the GMAT have a unique and subtle style. Even if you’re a math whiz, it takes some time to get used to the nuances of GMAT math problems.

I recommend the Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook as an effective reference for first approaching the GMAT math section. This book does a good job in explaining about 90% of the concepts you will need for GMAT math and also features extensive practice, both in drill format and in GMAT-style problem sets. For more practice problems, refer to the Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online book, the Official Guide for the GMAT Review, 12th Edition, or the Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review (this last book contains mainly easy and medium practice problems, but does feature lots of Data Sufficiency questions).

Unfortunately, the 10% of concepts not covered in the Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook are the hardest you will see on the test. While the average test taker will usually see no more than two or three questions with permutations, combinations and statistics (among the hardest math topics tested), this doesn’t mean you should ignore them completely. The bad news is that I have yet to find a decent book that addresses these subjects well. My recommendation is to search for these kinds of difficult practice questions in online communities like Beat The GMAT.

Weeks Six to Ten – GMAT Verbal Section - Verbal Focus

Your shopping list should include:

Manhattan GMAT’s Sentence Correction Guide for concept review

PowerScore’s Critical Reasoning Bible for concept review

Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook for concept review

Official Guide for the GMAT Verbal Review for practice problems

Official Guide for the GMAT Review, 12th Edition for practice problems

You should devote the next five weeks of your prep to building your verbal skills. There are two important considerations: First, don’t stop reviewing math. My suggestion is to make a habit of doing just five quant practice problems per day along with your verbal practice.  This will ensure you will not lose the math skills you’ve picked up in your previous weeks of prep.

Second, start your verbal studies by focusing on your weaknesses first and ending with your strengths. Example: let’s say that Sentence Correction (SC) was the biggest hurdle you faced in your first practice test, while Critical Reasoning (CR) was your second most problematic subject, but you consistently perform well with Reading Comprehension (RC). If that’s the case, review SC for the first 2 to 2.5 weeks. Next, move on to CR and work on that for another 2 weeks.

Whenever you move on to subsequent topics of GMAT Verbal, be sure to do a couple problems per day covering the previous verbal areas you’ve reviewed.  Thus in this example, by the time you start tackling RC in the final stages of your verbal prep, you should also be doing a few SC and CR questions per day. Again, as with quant, this strategy ensures that you do not forget what you’ve already learned. Consequently, this review methodology means that you will be devoting more and more time to your prep as you progress week to week!

Weeks Eleven to Thirteen – Practice Tests and Review of Errors

In the last few weeks of your prep you should focus on taking practice tests and getting comfortable with the GMAT’s computer-adaptive format; it takes time to get comfortable taking a test on the computer.

As I mentioned earlier, GMATPrep is the most accurate practice test on the market.  It should be a great indicator of where you stand after your weeks of hard work.  During this period of your studies, take the GMATPrep test #2 and review your results.  Next, for additional practice retake both GMATPrep test #1 and GMATPrep test #2.  By repeating both GMATPrep tests you’ll likely see a handful of questions you’ve seen before from previous tests, but I still think it’s a worthwhile exercise. For additional practice tests, I recommend Manhattan GMAT practice tests. Kaplan tests are also good practice but are often perceived to be a bit on the tough side.

Besides taking practice tests (which you should take on a weekly basis), the time leading up to your exam should be spent reviewing the mistakes that you’ve made up until now. The mistakes you made in the Official Guide for GMAT Review material are particularly important to review (since these are real but retired GMAT questions).  Here are two articles on how you can go about reviewing your mistakes:

Evaluating Your Practice Tests, Part 1 of 2
Evaluating Your Practice Tests, Part 2 of 2

In the very last week, I would review the tips and templates for the essay section of the GMAT, the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). The score you receive on this section is reported separately and does not count toward your overall GMAT score. In my experience I’ve found that most test takers can spend about 2-3 days studying AWA to be sufficiently prepared.

Finally, on the eve of your GMAT, try to relax and get a good night’s rest.
Don’t worry, you’re more than ready to beat the GMAT now!
Quick Tips for Your Study

Consider the following when building your GMAT prep strategy.

I’ve rolled up these notes from my studies and from the experiences of the hundreds of test takers I’ve had contact with since the start of my own GMAT journey:

Once you’ve created a study plan, stick to it. You will get results through discipline!

Review all material with a pen and paper in hand. Most strategy guides are packed with information that you should carefully digest, so take notes. You should also consider making some flashcards for important concepts.
You can download an set of free GMAT Flashcards from Beat The GMAT as a model for your own flashcards

Keep an error log. Error logs are great for reviewing your performance and tracking your improvements

Always time your practice. Even if you’re at the early stages of your prep, time yourself. As you progress, try to impose realistic time limits for solving a given question (about 90 seconds per question), it will help you build a solid instinct for pacing

Get a thorough review of GMAT concepts prior to prepping with Official Guide material. The Official Guide for GMAT Review series is extremely valuable since it features real (but retired) test questions.
Be sure you have a basic foundation on the test prior to going through these practice questions

Take practice tests under simulated conditions. If possible, try to take your practice tests at the same hour of the day you would take your actual GMAT.  Also, try to mimic the environment of a testing center.  I personally enjoyed taking practice tests in a lightly trafficked area of a library to get used to the ambient noise

If you get a question wrong, make sure you review it properly. You must understand why the correct answer choice is right and why all the rest are wrong. This exercise will help you avoid future mistakes!

If you were unsure about a question but guessed correctly, review it as if you got it wrong. Maybe you got lucky this time around, but you may not be so lucky on test day

Know when to guess and move along. You must answer all questions on the GMAT.  You will be heavily penalized for not answering a question, so pace yourself well

In the last few days before the GMAT, ramp down your prep. Your body needs lots of rest for this 3+ hour test.  Eat well and get some sleep

www.topmba.com

Paul Danos, Dean of mba.com/school_profile/tuck-school-of-business-at-dartmouth/”>Tuck at Dartmouth College, explains “the reason for the enduring appeal of the MBA is simple – demand for MBA graduates by the great businesses of the world keeps increasing. As businesses grow in complexity and scope, companies need more and more skilled and well-educated leaders. “

In the USA, MBAs struggling to find work have been those with little or no work experience, those looking for a major career change or international student who cannot find a corporate sponsor. Boston University feared only 50% of graduates would be in employment three months after graduation this year, but the reality is that over 85% have found employment in 2009, says Hayden Estrada, Associate Dean.
Perhaps the big change has been the proportion of international students at US schools who are actively looking to return home or develop careers in emerging markets. A few years ago, an international MBA was a route to a new life in the USA or Canada. In 2010, an international MBA is as much about learning international business practices and creating a network which can be a  powerful career advantage for MBAs seeking to exploit the rapid growth of China, South East Asia, Latin America and other emerging economies.  Guillen at Wharton points out “a higher percentage, perhaps as many as two out of every three, are returning to work in their home countries, or in emerging markets, rather than staying in the USA.”

MBA hiring in Europe was certainly  affected by the recession in 2009. William DeVilla of IE Business School confirms “weakness in demand in financial services  affected MBA placement figures in 2009.” Goldman Sachs currently plans to hire about 100 full-time MBAs in 2010, slightly less than in 2007 or 2008. However, the situation is volatile and the numbers planned to be recruited by banks in early 2010 could still increase if economies around the world continue to recover. Professor Guillen at Wharton predicts a change in the profile of MBA hiring in finance. “I think financial services and consulting will continue to be major employers of MBAs. However, the big investment banks will not be as important. Boutique banks, corporate development departments, and private equity will likely become more important.”

But non-financial recruiting is strong and many companies are taking advantage of the banking cutbacks to hire top talent.” Philipa Hain of London Business School agrees that “MBAs are having to be more flexible and look beyond finance. Our Career Service is playing a crucial role in re-directing MBAs towards realistic career opportunities.  Coca Cola, Rolls Royce and Amazon are amongst those companies which increased their MBA hiring in 2009.”

In parts of Asia and Middle East, the picture is positively rosy. Sandra Schwarzer, Director of Career Services at Insead reports an increase of up to 30% in job opportunities in parts of Asia and Middle East. Demand for MBAs in China and India are at record levels. Demand is so strong that the Municipality of Shanghai has funded the launch of its own local business school –Shanghai Advanced Centre for Finance, to compete with other local schools like CEIBS and Cheung Kong Business School. Employers in China could not find enough Chinese MBAs returning from US and European business schools, spurring the local government into action. And it’s not just China where demand is hot. Edward Hain of American Express in Korea, reports strong demand for international MBA hiring to meet pipeline leadership needs throughout the Asia region. He comments “MBAs bring the maturity, business and cultural awareness as well as the leadership skills to take our company forward. Even during difficult economic conditions we remain committed to our MBA hiring program, not just in Asia but around the world.”

Shwarzer reports the biggest increases in job opportunities in 2009, compared to 2008, in Africa with a 78 per cent increase, and South America – especially Brazil – with a 69 per cent rise. Jose Antonio Cruzado, Regional Director for QS TopMBA.com in Latin America sees “Brazil is experiencing dynamic economic growth and growing demand for MBAs. Brazil is also the engine of Latin America at present, with connected economies, especially Peru, booming from the regional growth in demand. Another factor in the region is China’s quest for raw materials, resulting in a growing demand for Chinese speaking MBAs across Latin America.

As a result of this sustained demand for MBAs, salary figures remain remarkably robust. Average MBA salaries reported by the TOPMBA.com International recruiter Survey were US$91,500, compared to US$93,000 in 2008 – a fall of just 2%. The latest graduating class from IMD achieved an average salary of £78,000 (compared to £76,000 in 2008) plus an average sign on bonus of £17,000. Luke Li of Duke University’s Fuqua School reported an average salary of £60,000 for the 2009 class, unchanged from 2008, with a bonus of  £14,000. Ashridge Business School, a one year MBA near London reported an average salary of £135,000 in 2009, compared with £124,000 in 2008, for their MBAs who average 10 years of work experience.

MBAs from regional business schools generally achieve lower salaries than those educated at well respected international business schools. Though employers are recruiting from a wider base  of schools than ever before, they still prefer international experience.  Edward Hain of American Express explains “we need people who understand international cultures, are internationally mobile and can quickly assimilate the requirements of working in a local market with very specific needs, whilst demonstrating an ability to lead a diverse group of people.  It is the highly selective entry standards, combined with readiness for leadership which really makes an internationally educated MBA essential for many roles at Amex and we are competing with many companies which take the same view.”

www.topmba.com

The Aspen Institute published the 2009-2010 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and popular alternative ranking of full-time MBA programs.

This only MBA ranking that looks beyond reputation and test scores to measure something different: how well schools are preparing their students for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day.

TOP 10 MBA Programs in the US

1. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
2. Yale School of Management, Yale university (New Haven, Connecticut)
3. Graduate School of Business, Stanford University (Stanford, California)
4. Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana)
5. Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, California)
6. NYU Stern, New York University (New York City, New York)
7. Columbia Business School (New York City, New York)
8. Darden School of Business, University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia)
9. The Johnson School, Cornell University  (Ithaca, New York)
10. The George Washington University School of Business (Washington, D.C.)

via www.beyondgreypinstripes.org

The Aspen Institute today releases the 2009-2010 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and popular alternative ranking of full-time MBA programs.

While many MBA rankings exist, only this one looks beyond reputation and test scores to measure something different: how well schools are preparing their students for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day.

This year, 149 business schools from 24 countries participated in the ranking, leaded by Schulich School of Business.

Top 10 International Schools:

1. Schulich School of Business, York University (Toronto, Canada)
2. RSM Erasmus University (Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
3. IE Business School (Madrid, Spain)
4. Nottingham University Business School (Nottingham, England)
5. Griffith Business School (Brisbane, Australia)
6. INSEAD (Paris, France)
7. Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University (Montreal, Canada)
8. ESADE Business School (Barcelona, Spain)
9. John Molson School of Business (JMSB), Concordia University (Montreal, Canada)
10. University of Stellenbosch Business School (Cape Town, South Africa)

via www.beyondgreypinstripes.org

The Wharton Women in Business Conference announces that it will celebrate its 11th anniversary Friday, October 9, 2009 at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia. The student-run conference will feature highly accomplished women including keynote speakers Sallie L. Krawcheck, President, Global Wealth & Investment Management, Bank of America and Shelly Lazarus, Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. The Conference will also feature mentoring sessions and recognition of this year’s Kathleen McDonald Distinguished Alumna Award. Registration is available to the public at http://whartonwomen.org/conf2009/.

As a recent CNN.com report recently noted, the percentage of business school female students who has remained flat for roughly two decades at about 30%. Yet this year’s conference occurs at a time when Wharton has reached a new milestone: the largest percentage of female incoming MBA students in the school’s history, 40%. The Wharton Women in Business (WWIB) club, one of Wharton’s most active student organizations, supports Wharton’s large and diverse female population by providing numerous programs that enhance the experience for all women enrolled in the MBA program.   

Women have long come to Wharton to advance knowledge of business issues and thereby make a difference in the world. Notable Wharton alumnae include Goldman Sachs’ first female trading partner Connie K. Duckworth, former Travelocity CEO, Michelle Peluso and legendary U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, who was appointed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, becoming the first female presidential cabinet member and the longest-serving Labor Dept. chief ever. Today Wharton’s outreach and support of women includes:

• Founding member of the Forté Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to developing women business leaders
• WWIB Career Fair connecting Wharton women with career opportunities
• Wharton MBA Admissions presentations in major cities targeted specifically to women
• Vast alumni network, within Wharton and via the Trustees Council of Penn Women
• Academic Partner, “10,000 Women,” a Goldman Sachs initiative aimed at affording women entrepreneurs in emerging global markets management education