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Consumer goods companies have been committed to MBA hiring in the US for many years. Lever Brothers, traditionally, hires 50+ MBAs in the US and many fewer in Europe. This situation is changing. As more and more people graduate with MBAs, they are penetrating
consumer goods companies around the world in ever-increasing numbers. It is now common for both local operations and head offices of such companies as Diageo, P&G, BAT and Coca Cola to hire MBAs.

For local industrial companies, the high level of multinational salaries remains a barrier and can discourage MBAs from pursuing local opportunities that may bring them rewards in the longer term. Manel Gasca of Rittal Disprel, a consumer products / retail company based in Spain, has the following advice for MBAs, "Too much relevance is placed on salary straight after an MBA. Since the year I graduated, I had to learn that the true value of my MBA was the knowledge I acquired and not the job I got straight after graduation. MBA recruitment is very sensitive to economic conditions and we should not value studying an MBA by the salary we obtain after graduation."

But there is a downside to such a "hot" MBA job market. First of all, many MBA employers will be disappointed and not attract the talent they are seeking. Neil Currie of Johnson & Johnson says, "I recruit international MBAs - candidates often are reluctant to share vital information about their personal and career objectives, and we waste their time and ours going through several interviews on campus and on site, make offers only to discover that they want to work in consulting after all."

Secondly, there is a danger that we return to the bad old days, when MBAs had a reputation for arrogance, which tarnished their potential contribution. A consistent message from recruiters in industry is that they are having to look outside the top-tier business schools to find the talent they need. However, they are almost all reporting success in their search.

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Source: -
QS World MBA Tour - QS TopMBA.com International Recruiter Survey 2007
© QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. 2007
Website: www.topmba.com