Will recession slow the ‘red hot’ business graduate jobs market?

Business

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Even as the global economy nears recession, the world’s largest cosmetics manufacturer is gearing up to boost job opportunities for young people.

L’Oréal For Youth offers a range of opportunities for under-30s, including jobs, internships and training at the French company behind brands such as Lancôme and Kiehl’s. The global program offered 18,000 places last year and L’Oréal is looking for 25,000 registrations by 2022.

According to Stephanie Messner, the company’s director of talent acquisition in France, job candidates are at the forefront of a tight job market. “Graduates are in a very fortunate position, because there is more demand for skills than skills, so they can pick and choose their careers. It’s a candidate-driven market, not an employer-driven one.”

It’s unclear how long this will last, with some large employers announcing they will continue to impose fines or cut jobs as the threat of a recession grows. But for business school graduates, there are some reasons for optimism.

According to a survey of 941 companies from 38 countries in February and March 2022 by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), which administers business school entrance exams, employment projections remain bullish. It found that nearly nine in 10 corporate employers expect to hire MBA graduates by 2022, up from 79 percent of the same recruits they hired last year. Most MM graduates take the program directly after an undergraduate degree and have little or no prior professional experience.

To attract top talent, companies in the U.S. plan to offer higher starting salaries for business master’s graduates in 2022 than last year, according to GMAC. For example, the average salary in 2021 for graduates of master’s in finance and data analytics programs increased by $15,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Reflecting the rapidly rising rate of inflation, GMAC says educational assistance such as tuition reimbursement is becoming an increasingly common benefit, with 54 percent of employers offering it by 2022 — up from 35 percent last year. Additionally, schools say businesses are offering flexible remote work options to attract young recruits while still having the opportunity to network and mentor in the office.

Satya Autar, manager of employer relations at Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, said business masters graduates entered a red-hot job market this summer, belying the cautious sentiment about the economy. “Students have the power in their hands,” she said.

The Rotterdam school’s top three employment industries are consulting, financial services and information technology, broadly in line with other schools. One recent shift is a greater focus on sustainability, as more students enter purpose-driven careers and shun certain groups whose businesses, such as fossil fuel companies, harm the environment or society.

HEC Paris graduate Margot Laborjo

Margot Laborjo, a graduate of HEC Paris, is now a sustainability specialist

“Now more than ever, business students are looking at companies for their impact, their commitment to the environment and their values,” says Margot LeBourjoie, who graduated this summer from MMM at HEC Paris. She took electives focused on sustainability, which confirmed her interest in responsible business practices. Lebourgeois now works as a sustainability and responsibility specialist at French spirits maker Pernod Ricard in Paris.

Zoe McLoughlin, executive director of the Careers Center at London Business School, says employers value MMM graduates for their strong business acumen, highly developed soft skills, adaptability and ability to work effectively with teams from diverse backgrounds in a globalized world.

McLoughlin previously worked for Boston Consulting Group and said that MM graduates were often hired at the same level as undergraduates but were promoted much more quickly. “They have that extra knowledge, experience and reflective coverage,” she says.

Still, with fears of a recession mounting, graduates can’t be complacent, warns Cathy Savage, senior manager of the UCD Careers Network at the Smurf Graduate School in Dublin.

“It’s still a competitive process and if you’re not up for it, you’re not going to get a job,” Savage says. She said that although job opportunities are primarily out of supply, some candidates are “hidden” by prospective employers and don’t hear back after applying.

“Some recruiting processes are so brutal, you might go through five, six, seven rounds of interviews,” Savage says, adding that students should start planning their job applications early and reach out to alumni for support.

A man and a woman in a restaurant, talking to each other
Graduate recruitment can be demanding, with multiple rounds of interviews © Getty Images

Maren Kaus, director of career services at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, says some sectors are holding back recruitment, particularly technology. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Google parent Alphabet have slowed hiring in some areas due to economic headwinds, but after a hiring spree over the past two years.

In turn, business schools offer a wide range of career services, including coaching, skill development workshops and networking opportunities. Increasingly, these students are holding more virtual recruiting events that allow them to meet a wider range of employers than is possible on campus.

Additionally, as Covid has caused many to reassess their priorities, more emphasis has been placed on lifelong development as they frequently change careers amid the “Great Retirement”. Jean-Amiel Jordan, senior executive at HEC’s Paris careers division, says careers services are becoming “less transactional”: Rather than being about the first job on graduation, HEC It enables graduate students to access career services throughout their careers.

The school has moved professional development from an academic fringe to a core curriculum, making workshops mandatory rather than optional for all MM candidates. Ultimately, Jordan believes such an arrangement will stand graduates in good stead, regardless of economic conditions. “I’m very optimistic, even though it may be set up for failure,” he said.

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