Recruitment has changed dramatically in the past four years, and MBA students, alumni, careers officers have had to look harder and longer to find opportunities that fulfil the ambitions of the graduating class.
Another major trend is the closing of the US workplace to foreign nationals. “The decreased number of available H1-B visas in the U.S. has put the focus on really opening up the MBA-hiring market in the UK. This trend will most likely continue in the coming years while the decreased cap on H1-B visas in the U.S. remains in effect,” says Allison Pinkham, formerly a Careers Advisor at the Darden Graduate School of Business.
Since careers development is the number one reason why people choose to undertake an MBA, it is vital that business schools offer a comprehensive service to their students, yet supporting every individual student can be very time consuming. TopMBA Careers supports the efforts of the careers service, by building ties with alumni, between schools and recruiters, and supporting a technology platform to facilitate interaction.
TopMBA Careers was launched by the publishers of The MBA Career Guide and organizers of the World MBA Tour – resources that are well known by business schools and MBA candidates worldwide. TopMBA Careers provides a service both as a technological platform provider and an active facilitator of MBA recruiting. The platform is constantly updated and revised by the in-house IT team, and the site is hosted on the company’s own servers to ensure optimal security and reliability. The IT team responds directly to queries about the technology, and uses input from users to provide additional functionality and enhance the design. The IT team is housed in “QS House” along with the business development team, which affords an easy interface between the two groups, to allow feedback from business school client to feed back into the IT development quickly and easily.
The networked job search has become an increasingly popular means of finding employment, particularly for job seekers outside of the standard MBA recruitment process. Many schools are justifiably proud of the strength of their alumni network, which can be well utilised to provide contacts, advise, and even employment. The network helps spread word of the school with employers, which in turn enhances the ability of a business school to deliver on its mission of career development.
TopMBA Careers provides a platform for MBAs of 100 partner business schools on 5 continents to post their profile in a members-only networking directory. The thousands of MBAs who add or update their contact details every year see a real value in networking amongst peer schools. "TopMBA Careers is a great job market. I regularly access the database to inform myself about open positions. Since I graduated in 2003 three members have contacted me based on my personal profile listed in the database. It is a great help both for current students as well as alumni,” says Markus Boelke, who earned his MBA from the Olin School of Business, Washington University. MBAs have proved great employers of their fellow MBAs.
The network has also proved useful when the TopMBA Careers Corporate Team ran the third annual “Top Asia Managers” virtual careers fair from 21 to 23 February 2006. Michael Yang, General Marketing Manager of Motorola China, says “More and more MBAs are joining Chinese companies from International MBAs and Asian business schools. I think the attraction for these MBAs is not the starting salary, but the growing opportunity. For example, the average MBA salary growth rate is higher than 15% per year here in China.” This event brought over 200 opportunities to the 900 registered attendees, and provided online expert recruitment panels to answer careers questions and offers country and companyspecific advice.
The most visited pages of TopMBA Careers are the jobs listing of MBA positions, posted by recruiters worldwide. There are about 1,000 jobs on the site at any given time, with over 12,000 jobs in 27 countries posted over the course of 2005. This growth is fuelled by the TopMBA Careers Corporate Team that has proven very effective in involving a growing number of recruiters from around the world. Christophe Nobilet, Executive Director, Altran UK and Ireland, writes, “Altran is looking to recruit the best possible candidates to grow our business. We decide to put TopMBA Careers on our preferred suppliers list based on their extensive network of the worlds leading business schools, and we haven't been disappointed. In a few short months, we have already recruited two top-tier candidates through TopMBA Careers." Indeed, our corporate team is now running an assignment to place 200 MBAs at one investment bank (Calyon) alone, and have already placed three. With a network of recruiters and schools of such scale, TopMBA Careers is well placed to facilitate job matching.
Recruiter outreach is conducted via phone calls, company visits, established partners in particular countries, and drawing upon the media ties established by the World MBA Tour in cities such as Beijing, Paris, Sydney, Singapore, Washington DC, and Mexico City. The team has expanded to include a placement service for MBA members, and has successfully secured job offers for candidates for companies such as McKinsey and entrepreneurs looking for a talented start-up team. "Our students keep coming up to me regarding the vacancies as they are very interested in knowing what positions are available, not just in the UK but overseas as well. Therefore the jobs that you have been sending to us have been really useful,” says Claire Simcock, Post-Graduate Careers Research Assistant, Nottingham University Business School.
In addition, TopMBA Careers has built relationships with recruitment consultants who are eager to source good candidates for their own corporate clients. "I was very pleased with the number of exceptional candidates with relevant experience who responded to our recent job posting ‘Strategy Director for a FTSE 100 company’ on the TopMBA Careers. It has proved to be a reliable ‘search’ tool and network facility that we shall continue to use in sourcing senior management for our clients. In our experience, this site really delivers on its promises,” says Jonathan Firth, Director, Mills & Firth.
With over 800 recruiters with active passwords from countries around the world, TopMBA Careers has a steady and rich flow of positions coming onto the site. Over 50% of jobs listed have been posted within the last 30 days. The breakdown of jobs is global – across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America (see graph for more detail). The positions vary from entry-level management to senior executive, generally with experience in the relevant industry requested. Salaries vary depending on experience and geographic location, with many recruiters saying that the salary will be negotiable depending on experience and fit. About 50% of jobs that have a specific salary figure stated have a salary of between US$70,00 and $100,000, which is very healthy, given that many advertised positions are located in Asia or Latin America where the dollar value of salaries is generally lower, given the exchange rate.
In response to feedback from partner business schools, TopMBA Careers has added the following three features: Online CV platform, Printed CV books, and customized promotion to recruiters.
Online CV platform: Built in cooperation with our partner business schools in order to provide a system that best meets the needs of MBA programs (as opposed to most systems that have been designed for undergraduate programs). Schools may choose a specially designed template to standardize the look of all the students CVs, and create separate books for internship and full-time job seekers. MBA Recruiters will be able to search the CVs via a school-dedicated site.
Printed CV book: Improve your visibility to recruiters, who often request to receive a hard-copy of the CV book to more easily review candidates. Save on costs, as we have negotiated favorable rates for printing, and time, as our team will manage the production process for you.
Recruiter promotion: We will customize a promotion program to target the industries or countries most relevant to your goals, and promote your school’s online or printed CV book to our warm contacts of the 4,000 individual recruiters who have participated in our careers services over the past five years.
“I had to drive three hours to reach the conference, but I can certainly say it has been worthwhile, both from a networking and a learning point of view,” said Bernd Konshak of Hewlett Packard. TopMBA Careers Conferences bring recruiters together with business school program directors, careers and admissions officers for one day of learning from each other and building relationships. Small group discussions with rotating participants afford all attendees an opportunity to network together. The 2004 series of conferences in London and Munich attracted a wide range of recruiters and business school officers.
When asked how she would describe her experience at the conference, Georgia Foley, Recruitment Advisor, AT Kearney, wrote: "Worthwhile! It was nice to share and hear it from the other side! Great networking opportunity.” The European offices of Microsoft are considering the launch of an MBA recruitment program, and Wilma attended the conference to gather information and contacts to help structure the program. “The conference helped me understand the European market, and the MBA recruiter research presentation was insightful,” commented Richard Shafer of Cornell University. The 2006 series will include a conference in London on Friday, 9th June.
Serving schools from Australia to the United States has been a challenge that the TopMBA Careers team has embraced. “The quality and quantity of the jobs that you have is very impressive, and our students have given us very positive feedback on your service. I would highly recommend membership to other schools,” writes Angel Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The outlook for MBA recruitment is bright for 2006, with increased hiring expected across industries and regions by the companies using TopMBA Careers to reach potential hires. The team at TopMBA Careers works closely with careers officers at member schools to ensure that they are seeing the value of membership. In the improving market for MBA talent, the TopMBA Careers site is positioned to be the preferred destination for recruiters to source top MBA talent, and to serve as a valuable resource to committed business schools careers officers worldwide.
Recruitment has changed dramatically in the past four years, and MBA students, alumni, careers officers have had to look harder and longer to find opportunities that fulfil the ambitions of the graduating class.
Another major trend is the closing of the US workplace to foreign nationals. “The decreased number of available H1-B visas in the U.S. has put the focus on really opening up the MBA-hiring market in the UK. This trend will most likely continue in the coming years while the decreased cap on H1-B visas in the U.S. remains in effect,” says Allison Pinkham, formerly a Careers Advisor at the Darden Graduate School of Business.
Since careers development is the number one reason why people choose to undertake an MBA, it is vital that business schools offer a comprehensive service to their students, yet supporting every individual student can be very time consuming. TopMBA Careers supports the efforts of the careers service, by building ties with alumni, between schools and recruiters, and supporting a technology platform to facilitate interaction.
TopMBA Careers was launched by the publishers of The MBA Career Guide and organizers of the World MBA Tour – resources that are well known by business schools and MBA candidates worldwide. TopMBA Careers provides a service both as a technological platform provider and an active facilitator of MBA recruiting. The platform is constantly updated and revised by the in-house IT team, and the site is hosted on the company’s own servers to ensure optimal security and reliability. The IT team responds directly to queries about the technology, and uses input from users to provide additional functionality and enhance the design. The IT team is housed in “QS House” along with the business development team, which affords an easy interface between the two groups, to allow feedback from business school client to feed back into the IT development quickly and easily.
The networked job search has become an increasingly popular means of finding employment, particularly for job seekers outside of the standard MBA recruitment process. Many schools are justifiably proud of the strength of their alumni network, which can be well utilised to provide contacts, advise, and even employment. The network helps spread word of the school with employers, which in turn enhances the ability of a business school to deliver on its mission of career development.
TopMBA Careers provides a platform for MBAs of 100 partner business schools on 5 continents to post their profile in a members-only networking directory. The thousands of MBAs who add or update their contact details every year see a real value in networking amongst peer schools. "TopMBA Careers is a great job market. I regularly access the database to inform myself about open positions. Since I graduated in 2003 three members have contacted me based on my personal profile listed in the database. It is a great help both for current students as well as alumni,” says Markus Boelke, who earned his MBA from the Olin School of Business, Washington University. MBAs have proved great employers of their fellow MBAs.
The network has also proved useful when the TopMBA Careers Corporate Team ran the third annual “Top Asia Managers” virtual careers fair from 21 to 23 February 2006. Michael Yang, General Marketing Manager of Motorola China, says “More and more MBAs are joining Chinese companies from International MBAs and Asian business schools. I think the attraction for these MBAs is not the starting salary, but the growing opportunity. For example, the average MBA salary growth rate is higher than 15% per year here in China.” This event brought over 200 opportunities to the 900 registered attendees, and provided online expert recruitment panels to answer careers questions and offers country and companyspecific advice.
The most visited pages of TopMBA Careers are the jobs listing of MBA positions, posted by recruiters worldwide. There are about 1,000 jobs on the site at any given time, with over 12,000 jobs in 27 countries posted over the course of 2005. This growth is fuelled by the TopMBA Careers Corporate Team that has proven very effective in involving a growing number of recruiters from around the world. Christophe Nobilet, Executive Director, Altran UK and Ireland, writes, “Altran is looking to recruit the best possible candidates to grow our business. We decide to put TopMBA Careers on our preferred suppliers list based on their extensive network of the worlds leading business schools, and we haven't been disappointed. In a few short months, we have already recruited two top-tier candidates through TopMBA Careers." Indeed, our corporate team is now running an assignment to place 200 MBAs at one investment bank (Calyon) alone, and have already placed three. With a network of recruiters and schools of such scale, TopMBA Careers is well placed to facilitate job matching.
Recruiter outreach is conducted via phone calls, company visits, established partners in particular countries, and drawing upon the media ties established by the World MBA Tour in cities such as Beijing, Paris, Sydney, Singapore, Washington DC, and Mexico City. The team has expanded to include a placement service for MBA members, and has successfully secured job offers for candidates for companies such as McKinsey and entrepreneurs looking for a talented start-up team. "Our students keep coming up to me regarding the vacancies as they are very interested in knowing what positions are available, not just in the UK but overseas as well. Therefore the jobs that you have been sending to us have been really useful,” says Claire Simcock, Post-Graduate Careers Research Assistant, Nottingham University Business School.
In addition, TopMBA Careers has built relationships with recruitment consultants who are eager to source good candidates for their own corporate clients. "I was very pleased with the number of exceptional candidates with relevant experience who responded to our recent job posting ‘Strategy Director for a FTSE 100 company’ on the TopMBA Careers. It has proved to be a reliable ‘search’ tool and network facility that we shall continue to use in sourcing senior management for our clients. In our experience, this site really delivers on its promises,” says Jonathan Firth, Director, Mills & Firth.
With over 800 recruiters with active passwords from countries around the world, TopMBA Careers has a steady and rich flow of positions coming onto the site. Over 50% of jobs listed have been posted within the last 30 days. The breakdown of jobs is global – across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America (see graph for more detail). The positions vary from entry-level management to senior executive, generally with experience in the relevant industry requested. Salaries vary depending on experience and geographic location, with many recruiters saying that the salary will be negotiable depending on experience and fit. About 50% of jobs that have a specific salary figure stated have a salary of between US$70,00 and $100,000, which is very healthy, given that many advertised positions are located in Asia or Latin America where the dollar value of salaries is generally lower, given the exchange rate.
In response to feedback from partner business schools, TopMBA Careers has added the following three features: Online CV platform, Printed CV books, and customized promotion to recruiters.
Online CV platform: Built in cooperation with our partner business schools in order to provide a system that best meets the needs of MBA programs (as opposed to most systems that have been designed for undergraduate programs). Schools may choose a specially designed template to standardize the look of all the students CVs, and create separate books for internship and full-time job seekers. MBA Recruiters will be able to search the CVs via a school-dedicated site.
Printed CV book: Improve your visibility to recruiters, who often request to receive a hard-copy of the CV book to more easily review candidates. Save on costs, as we have negotiated favorable rates for printing, and time, as our team will manage the production process for you.
Recruiter promotion: We will customize a promotion program to target the industries or countries most relevant to your goals, and promote your school’s online or printed CV book to our warm contacts of the 4,000 individual recruiters who have participated in our careers services over the past five years.
“I had to drive three hours to reach the conference, but I can certainly say it has been worthwhile, both from a networking and a learning point of view,” said Bernd Konshak of Hewlett Packard. TopMBA Careers Conferences bring recruiters together with business school program directors, careers and admissions officers for one day of learning from each other and building relationships. Small group discussions with rotating participants afford all attendees an opportunity to network together. The 2004 series of conferences in London and Munich attracted a wide range of recruiters and business school officers.
When asked how she would describe her experience at the conference, Georgia Foley, Recruitment Advisor, AT Kearney, wrote: "Worthwhile! It was nice to share and hear it from the other side! Great networking opportunity.” The European offices of Microsoft are considering the launch of an MBA recruitment program, and Wilma attended the conference to gather information and contacts to help structure the program. “The conference helped me understand the European market, and the MBA recruiter research presentation was insightful,” commented Richard Shafer of Cornell University. The 2006 series will include a conference in London on Friday, 9th June.
Serving schools from Australia to the United States has been a challenge that the TopMBA Careers team has embraced. “The quality and quantity of the jobs that you have is very impressive, and our students have given us very positive feedback on your service. I would highly recommend membership to other schools,” writes Angel Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The outlook for MBA recruitment is bright for 2006, with increased hiring expected across industries and regions by the companies using TopMBA Careers to reach potential hires. The team at TopMBA Careers works closely with careers officers at member schools to ensure that they are seeing the value of membership. In the improving market for MBA talent, the TopMBA Careers site is positioned to be the preferred destination for recruiters to source top MBA talent, and to serve as a valuable resource to committed business schools careers officers worldwide.