Employers Interested in Specialized Business Master’s Degrees: Report
Credit: Bloomberg / Bloomberg / Getty Images- A growing number of business schools are adopting specialized master’s degrees in areas like data analytics.
- These new degrees are backed up by employer demand.
- A new GMAC and CSEA paper shows increased hiring expectations for specialized business master’s graduates compared to before the pandemic.
- That comes alongside continued strong hiring trends for MBA graduates.
Employers are hiring more graduates with a specialized business master’s degree than before the pandemic, a new paper shows, pointing to a greater demand for niche skills.
The new paper combines data from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Corporate Recruiters Survey and the Career Services Employer Alliance (CSEA) Recruiting Trends Survey to give a holistic view of business graduate hiring trends over the past five years.
Master’s degrees in high demand areas like business analytics have been on the rise in recent years, and to powerful effect: Graduates from top programs often report high earnings and job placement.
The trends outlined in the GMAC and CSEA paper affirm that employers are hiring more specialized business master’s talent than before the pandemic.
Hiring is up across the board for specialized master’s, according to the GMAC and CSEA analysis. Master of accounting, business analytics, data analytics, finance, and management are all up compared to before the pandemic.
Hiring for business and data analytics is particularly strong, with employers regularly hiring as expected or more than expected since the pandemic.
Andew Walker, the paper’s editor and the director of research analysis and communications at GMAC, noted that demand for specialized business skills has grown even as master of business administration (MBA) hiring has remained steady.
“I do think looking back at five years of hiring of business master’s talent in the U.S. and how it’s grown since 2019 is a good reminder of that increasing market need for these more specialized skills,” Walker said in an interview with BestColleges.
Walker said he expects business graduates to remain in demand even amid the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI). The GMAC found in its 2024 Corporate Recruiters Survey that employers expect AI to grow in importance, but they continue to prioritize human skills like problem-solving, communication, and strategic thinking.
“Employers acknowledge the growing need for understanding of AI and new technology, but they tell us that now and in the coming years, they’re more interested in business talent that can adapt and lead through the change that the new technology brings, rather than necessarily demonstrating mastery of the technology in and of itself,” Walker said.
Part of the rise in the hiring of graduates with specialized business master’s degrees comes as a result of more business schools adopting these degrees. A number of schools have rolled out programs in business and data analytics in recent years, reflecting an increased demand for data and tech skills from employers.
The master’s in management is also a growing, popular alternative to the long-established MBA. That degree focuses more on students with less work experience compared to an MBA.
MBA hiring remains relatively strong even amid the rise of alternative degrees, with the healthcare and manufacturing sectors showing particular interest in hiring MBA graduates.
Recent MBA trends at business schools closely mirror trends in specialized master’s programs: More schools are incorporating AI and data analytics into their programs alongside generalist business education.
AI Recruiting on the Rise
A growing number of employers are using virtual and AI recruiting tools — but business students increasingly want in-person options.
Online career fairs and networking events for corporate recruiting are increasingly popular since the pandemic, according to the paper. CSEA data shows that employers almost universally increased their use of virtual interviewing technologies in 2020 and 2021 and have continued to increase or maintain their virtual recruiting efforts since then.
The paper notes that these new technologies have “significantly transformed” recruitment practices, allowing companies to reach a broader number of candidates and giving candidates access to companies they may have otherwise been unable to reach.
Employers have also reported consistent increases in AI-powered pre-interview screening tools over the past five years. Those technologies use AI algorithms to match applicants to roles that best fit their experiences.
But the data also reveals a caveat: Full-time MBA student engagement in virtual career fairs has mostly decreased or leveled off in recent years.
That follows a larger trend in business education in the post-pandemic landscape. Students increasingly want both the flexibility offered by online and hybrid options as well as in-person networking and collaboration.
Walker said he expects both in-person recruiting options and virtual events will continue to be key for business students going forward.
“Virtual opportunities expand access to recruitment events for students who have full-time jobs for instance, and in-person experiences can still offer that sort of deeper connection that I think students started to miss during the pandemic, when everything was virtual,” Walker said.