Instead, students who were looking beyond these traditional sectors to fields such as technology, manufacturing, and healthcare were the lucky ones. GMAC, which administers the GMAT exam, an entrance exam to graduate business and management programmes, conducted the survey of 3,049 business school graduates at 111 universities worldwide in February and March. Overall the survey found that some 57 per cent of class of 2014 MBA and other business school graduates seeking jobs had at least one early offer. This was down slightly from 60 per cent in last year's survey but nearly double the 32 per cent who had offers at the same time period in 2010.

Technology was one of the non-traditional sectors that emerged as a promising sector for business school graduates: according to the survey 61 per cent of those seeking jobs in the tech industry had job offers, accounting for 15 per cent of all students with early offers. In 2010, just 9 per cent of students with early offers were in the technology industry. Manufacturing and healthcare/pharmaceuticals may be another emerging sector with 74 per cent of students reporting at least one early offer. Overall, they still account for just 7 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, though. Another successful sector was the government/non-profit sector, where 62 per cent of those seeking jobs had early offers, accounting for 5 per cent of the graduates' early job offers.

"This snapshot of the early job market for business school graduates demonstrates that graduate business degrees are useful in a wide variety of careers. While demand remains strong among traditional industries, business school graduates shouldn't overlook alternative sectors, which are actively seeking MBA and other business school talent," said Gregg Schoenfeld, GMAC survey research director.

http://newscenter.gmac.com/press-releases/hot-jobs-for-2014-business-school-grads-1120563