The career prospects for newly minted MBAs look better than ever, according to two recent surveys by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)

The results of the 2007 Corporate Recruiters Survey show that companies plan to hire an average of 18 percent more workers with MBAs and other graduate business degrees this year than they did in 2006.

The survey also found that employers plan to increase the number of jobs for people with graduate degrees in areas other than business by about 16 percent, while cutting back on slots for people with undergraduate degrees by more than 7 percent. 

GMAC partnered with the MBA Career Services Council, an international professional association, to develop questions for the survey. Close to 1400 recruiters from 1,029 companies around the globe – including 149 of the Fortune 500 – responded. 

Recruiters said they are especially drawn to the expertise in managing corporate strategy and motivating workers that MBA students gain in business school. Hiring managers indicated that people with graduate business degrees are likely to be more adept in these areas than others with less extensive education in management.

Dave Wilson, president and chief executive officer of GMAC, reflected on how business school equips students with a special skill set, saying: "A typical MBA graduate today brings maturity, intellect, experience, determination and a willingness to invest in his or her own intellectual capital. What a perfect combination for an employer!"

Not only are employers actively seeking business school graduates with this combination of attributes, the survey data indicates they are also willing to pay them higher salaries. Recruiters said that the annual base salaries that they plan to offer MBA graduates are 28 percent higher than those that they extend to new hires with other types of graduate degrees.  

And the job offers for MBA graduates are rolling in. According to the GMAC Global MBA Graduate Survey, the percentage of new MBAs landing an offer of employment before graduation has increased by half since 2003. 

Fifty-three percent of business school students who were looking for a job during the weeks leading up to graduation this year landed offers of employment before completing their degrees. This figure compares with just 36 percent in 2003. 

If you plan to work outside the United States, the news is good, too. Among non-U.S. respondents to the survey who were in the job market, 48 percent said they had at least one job offer before graduation, up from 32 percent four years ago. 

Many respondents in 2007 had more than one job offer to consider, reflecting steadily rising employer demand for people with a graduate management education. The survey found that the average respondent had received 2.5 job offers at the time of the survey, regardless of whether he or she went to school full-time or pursued their degree while working. 

Business school graduates are also growing more confident about their value to employers. Across the board, respondents in 2007 said they anticipated a post-graduation salary bump that is larger than their counterparts in previous years expected. Full-time MBA students anticipated the largest average percentage increase in compensation (54 percent), followed by part-time students, who expected a 43 percent jump in pay, on average. Executive MBA students said they anticipated their paychecks to rise by an average of 33 percent.  

In addition, a substantial majority of survey participants said they considered their graduate business education to be an outstanding or excellent value. Students most frequently cited the quality of the curriculum, caliber of the faculty and way their programs were run as factors in determining their level of satisfaction. 

The Global MBA Graduate Survey includes responses from 5,641 graduating MBA students representing 158 business schools around the world. About 65 percent of the respondents were actively seeking employment at the time the survey was conducted.  

Article contributed by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) - a nonprofit education association of leading graduate business schools worldwide and owner of the GMAT exam