In Rapid Rise of AI, Employers Turn to Business School Graduates for Human Skills
2024年7月1日 - 10:00PM
In Rapid Rise of AI, Employers Turn to Business School Graduates
for Human Skills
Despite concerns about inflation and recession risk, employer
confidence in graduate management education (GME) and its ability
to prepare business school graduates to be successful in their
organizations has reached new heights since the pandemic, according
to an annual survey of global corporate recruiters of business
graduates released today by the Graduate Management Admission
Council (GMAC). This increase in confidence was seen across key
industries business education caters to like consulting, finance
and accounting, as well as technology. The best news for today’s
business school graduates is that employers' appreciation
translates into optimistic hiring projections, with the majority of
global recruiters planning steady or expanding hiring in 2024. A
third expected to hire more MBA graduates than last year.
Notably, employers’ renewed confidence in GME is reflected in
the growing number of them who say business school graduates tend
to outperform their other employees, fast-track to upper-level
positions, and earn more than other employees, and the share has
grown in recent years despite – or perhaps due to – the rapid rise
of technologies like generative artificial intelligence
(AI). With the attention AI has received, the responding
employers do not necessarily believe the predicted changes have hit
their workplaces just yet, with only 26 percent considering AI to
be an important skill for current GME graduates to leverage in
their organizations. However, when asked which skills will be most
important in five years, AI ranked high across regions and
industries. More importantly, employers consistently value
problem-solving and strategic thinking as the top skills for GME
graduates of both today and tomorrow, and these core competencies
are seen as essential around the globe.
“As disruptive technologies like generative AI reshape the labor
market and the skill economy expands, employers are putting a
premium on strategic thinking, people leadership, and
problem-solving while betting on the rising importance of tech
prowess. To achieve success, future business leaders will need to
harness technological advancements and possess the knowledge and
experience to manage the change brought on by these evolutions,”
said Joy Jones, CEO of GMAC. “This year’s Corporate Recruiters
Survey affirms that graduate business programs continue to be
uniquely positioned—and trusted for their ability—to develop
business talent with increasingly relevant and cutting-edge skills,
who are equipped to tackle new and perennial challenges with a
balance of tech and human understanding.”
Confidence growth in remote working management skills
does not extend to remote learning.
Employers may have grown more confident in business schools
related to the changing context in which businesses and business
education operate. Notably, about two-thirds of employers say the
skills gained through GME are more important in today’s world of
remote and hybrid working. This is almost double the share who
answered a similar question in 2021 at the peak of the pandemic.
The increase in valuation of GME is most pronounced in leading
Fortune 100 and 500 companies, the finance and accounting and
manufacturing industries, and in East and Southeast Asia and
Western Europe. Understandably, organizations in these companies,
industries and regions have likely undergone the most changes in
remote working situations in the years following the pandemic and
are more likely to rely on the skills of GME graduates to manage
this disruption.
However, employers’ new appreciation for business graduates’
ability to manage flexibility in the workplace has not entirely
extended to an appreciation for the skills gained in online
programs. Overall, two-thirds of employers still believe in-person
programs impart stronger technical skills than online programs, and
nearly three quarters of global employers agree in-person programs
impart stronger leadership and communication skills. But this year
U.S. employers, who in past surveys have been the most skeptical of
online degrees compared to other regions, are warming up to the
idea that in-person degrees do not necessarily have a leg up on
online programs when it comes to development of the above-mentioned
skills.
Hiring projections remain optimistic despite recession
fears and policy impacts.
Given the lingering uncertainty of the global economic outlook,
more than half of employers—regardless of industry or
region—reported major or moderate influence of inflation and
recession on hiring but remain optimistic about employment
opportunities for business graduates. Consulting, along with
finance and accounting sectors, are projected to hire more MBA
graduates while data and business analytics hiring are expected to
expand the most in 2024. Regionally, planned hiring expansion is
most conservative in the United States and the technology sector,
whereas employers in Asia report the highest intended hiring across
GME degree types. Employers in major markets in Asia, as well as
Western Europe, also demonstrated significant growth in
international hiring—employment of those who require additional
legal documentation—compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2018.
“We know that international education, and subsequent
international employment opportunities, brings tremendous economic
and social benefits to a campus and a country,” said Martin Boehm,
rector & professor of marketing at EBS Universitӓt für
Wirtschaft und Recht in Germany and a board member of GMAC. “It is
encouraging to see the positive impact of international student
recruitment by increasing diversity and enrollment from abroad. We
remain committed to growing our graduates of cross-cultural
competencies and their global employability.”
About the Corporate Recruiters Survey
For more than two decades, the Corporate Recruiters Survey has
provided the world’s graduate business schools and employers with
data and insights to understand current trends in skill demand,
hiring, compensation, and perceptions of MBA and business master’s
graduates. GMAC, together with survey partners European Foundation
for Management Development (EFMD) and the MBA Career Services and
Employer Alliance (MBA CSEA), conducted the survey from January to
March of 2024, in association with the career services offices at
participating graduate business schools worldwide. GMAC Research
also worked with a market research firm to recruit additional
participants to make the overall sample more globally
representative. In total, 931 corporate recruiters and hiring
managers from staffing firms in 38 countries around the world
participated in this year’s survey.
About GMAC
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)
is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business
schools worldwide. GMAC provides world-class research, industry
conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate
management education industry as well as resources, events, and
services that help guide candidates through their higher education
journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management
Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate
business school assessment.
More than 12 million prospective students a year
trust GMAC’s platforms, including mba.com, GMAC Tours, and
BusinessBecause, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs,
connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for
exams, and get advice on how to successfully achieve their business
education and career goals. GMAC is a global organization with
offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United
States.
To learn more about our work, please
visit www.gmac.com
Media Contact:
Teresa HsuSr. Manager, Media RelationsMobile:
202-390-4180thsu@gmac.com