|
|
|
|
|
LATEST
NEWS |
10th
February 2010 / Times of India / Mumbai Edition
|
|
 MBA class of 2009 didn’t have it so bad
Mumbai: The year 2009 was possibly one of the worst years in which to graduate from a Bschool , thanks to a financial crisis across the world which resulted in a sluggish job market , few job offers and low salaries. But a survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which conducts the GMAT (the entrance test used by institutions across the globe), says that the scene was a tad better than expected for the Class of 2009 worldwide.
The GMACs bi-annual Alumni Perspectives Survey, released on Tuesday, says that the economic impact of the current recession is not as severe as that of the last recessionary period of 2002-2003. Thats an observation that Jiban Mukhopadhyay, a professor at the S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, agrees with. The job market is better for management students who passed out in 2009 compared with those who graduated in 2002, when the Indian economy was coming out of a five-year slowdown, he said.
The survey does not hide the fact that the percentage of management graduates hired in 2009 was less than the previous year, and salaries, too, were lower. According to the survey, 84% of respondents who passed out in 2009 got a job on graduating, a 4% dip since last year. The median starting salary was US$ 79,271, which was also a significant dip from US$ 80,000 for the Class of 2008.
The survey points to the fact that job satisfaction seemed to be on the rise. Fifty eight percent of those surveyed said they were in the kind of position they had hoped for, while 48% were more than satisfied with the direction their career was taking. Another 47% felt their employers valued their management degree.
However, while the survey paints a slightly less dreary picture of the life of a B-school graduate last year, a Mumbai based professional who got an MBA in 2009 begs to differ. I got the highest salary amongst all my batch mates and yet this was woefully less than the average salary for the previous batch. The scene was indeed very bad. The fact that the job market is now on the mend has absolutely no bearing on my batch. While the batch that passed out before us and the batch that passed out after us will get good salaries, our batch faced the brunt of the recession, he added.
This might well tie in to another finding in the survey: that the job market was worse for Europeans and Asians than for US citizens. While 78% of European and Asian respondents to the survey found employment after graduation, the figure was 87% for US citizens.
Job Survey
- 84% were employed at graduation
- The majority felt they made the right choice for a first job
- Two out of three employed alumni said their starting salary met expectations or exceeded their expectations
- This batch received fewer job offers and lower salaries than the class that graduated the previous year
- 76% of Europeans and Asians found employment on graduation
- 87% of Americans found employment on graduation
- 56% got their jobs through networking
|
|
|
