MBA employer perception of North American business schools

The QS Global 200 Business Schools Report 2012/13 measures the employer reputation of the world’s top business schools, both at home and abroad. Nicole Willson speaks to two MBA recruiters about what they are looking for, as well as how MBA curriculum and admissions affect employer perception.

Susan Shald, director of talent scouting for Gallup, has been recruiting MBA graduates from the Thunderbird School of Global Management for the past nine years. Gallup hires Thunderbird graduates to work in cities around the world, including Bangalore and Bangkok.

Shald says the global mindset of the students is one of the reasons she recruits from Thunderbird, since their admissions team selects students who are “global in nature, whether that means they’re from another country or they’ve travelled to other countries, so they’ve got that propensity to think about the world globally as opposed to something that’s just domestic.” Work experience is also important to recruiters at Gallup, who know that Thunderbird students have previous work experience that they can draw upon when they start their new roles.

Shald says that Gallup is also attracted to the overall education Thunderbird students are receiving – not only a solid MBA education, but also one that emphasizes both technical and soft skills. “We’re looking for people that have that strategy that’s taught in every MBA program, but they also have this technical expertise that they can get down to the nuts and bolts of what they need to deliver, but also talk to someone at a high level if they need to.”

The MBA curriculum is also one of the reasons why companies like TD Bank Group hire students from the DeSautels Faculty of Management – McGill University. Marie José Beaudin, executive director of career services at the DeSautels, explains that employers “love the [DeSautels] MBA program because it’s an integrative management teaching, so the students are taught to not think in silos but cross functions.”  Each DeSautels MBA course is taught by more than one professor and each professor has a different specialization.

As a result, Desautels students are able to address problems from a variety of angles, which is a quality that MBA employers appreciate. According to Shane Creamer, associate vice president of talent acquisition at TD Bank Group, one of the reasons TD Bank hires DeSautels graduates is that they “bring strong skill sets and new perspectives that we value.”

TD Bank Group holds annual recruitment events at Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University for a variety of functions including branch banking, strategy analysis, business development, commercial lending, equity analyst, investment banking associate, leadership development programs, and finance and accounting roles.

Creamer explains, “TD goes to those events looking for the best talent that represents the diverse communities where we operate. This means hiring people who will appreciate our unique and inclusive culture; people who value delivering legendary customer experiences and people who want to give back to their communities”.

DeSautels’ high proportion of international students helps foster the kind of global mindset that appeals to MBA employers.  International students comprise 55% of the MBA cohort, hailing from countries such as China, Japan, and Pakistan. This also makes for a much more diverse classroom experience that will help students once they enter the workplace.

In fact, Creamer states that TD hires DeSautels graduates because they “appreciate working in a collaborative environment where diversity is welcomed and opportunities are meaningful and engaging.”