The Impact of COVID-19 on the Hiring of Business School Graduates. Corporate Recruiters Survey, 2020

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) conducts the Annual Corporate Recruiters Survey (CRS) to provide vital data for employers and business schools in understanding trends and insights on hiring, salaries, and skills of MBA and business master's graduates. The survey is administered in partnership with the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance (MBA CSEA), EFMD, and Highered and career services offices at participating graduate business schools worldwide. As data collection for the 2020 CRS report was nearing a conclusion in mid-March, the COVID-19 outbreak was unfolding. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak as a pandemic. Given the disruption caused by the pandemic, GMAC determined to undertake a second wave of data collection to provide more relevant insights about the impact of COVID-19. One of the defining characteristics of the pandemic had been the persistent uncertainty as to how and when situations would come to normalcy. This also affected the ability of businesses to make informed decisions and projections. In this context, the survey still gathered 232 responses from corporate recruiters in Wave II (June 17-July 17, 2020). Wave I (February 17-March 17, 2020) of the survey received 712 responses. The findings of the 2020 Corporate Recruiters Survey suggest that employers remain confident about the value of graduate management talent, which is also apparent in their relatively steady hiring projections and salary trends. In sum, the skills and abilities acquired by graduate management talent during their business school experiences make them a valuable asset in supporting organizational recovery and resiliency. [Rahul Choudaha, Rhonda Daniel, Maryam Bastani, Devina Caruthers, and Tacoma Williams contributed to this report. This report was produced in partnership with EFMD, MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance (MBA CSEA) and Highered. For the 2019 report, see ED598213.]