Nine out of ten MBA alumni from the class of 2010 at b-schools across the world had a job at the time of graduating from their business school, finds a survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), owners of the GMAT exam.
The Graduate Alumni Perspectives Survey conducted in September 2010 which polled 824 fresh MBA graduates of 2010 across 126 business schools from the USA, Asia-Pacific Region and Europe also discovered that 21% MBAs had landed up jobs in the Finance sector, 19% in the Products and Services sector, 15% in the Consulting sector and 13% in the Technology sector.
A substantial 10% of the MBAs polled had taken up jobs in the Non-profit sector or the Government.
Of those with jobs, 4% were self-employed while 84% was working for an employer.
At 88%, the at-the-time-of-graduation employment level of the MBA classes of 2010 worldwide is only one percentage point lower than the highest-since-2003 level of 2006 and 2007, when it was 89%. The same survey for the class of 2009 had indicated a 84% employment.
The 2010 alumni received on an average 1.9 job offers each. As much as 76% said that they could not have obtained their post-MBA job without the MBA degree.
The median starting salary for 2010 graduates was USD 78,819, more than the USD 75,000 for alumni who graduated in 2009.
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of the 2010 alumni had obtained jobs in mid-level positions, 14% in entry-level positions, 19% at the senior level and 6% in an executive-level position.
The result of the survey indicate an overall improvement in the employment prospects of business degree holders, even though only 59% admitted to having acquired the type of job that they desired. Nevertheless, 96% rated the value of their business degree as either outstanding, excellent, or good.