Internships often give MBA candidates a leg up in securing a full-time position following graduation.
Among employers with internship programs, 66 percent plan to offer internships to MBA candidates in 2017, according to 167 recruiters from more than 140 companies who responded to the 2016 Year-End Poll of Employers. Eighty-two percent of the poll respondents said their companies will maintain (23%) or increase (59%) the number of internships offered to MBA candidates compared with 2016. A smaller share of employers also expects to offer internships to candidates in business master’s programs including Master of Accounting (17% of employers), Master in Management (16%), and Master of Finance (15%).
Past GMAC research has shown that securing an internship during business school is a well-travelled path to full-time employment after graduation. Of companies that offered MBA internships in 2015, 57 percent hired more than half of their interns to full-time positions. For companies that offered internships to non-MBA business master’s students, 38 percent of employers hired more than half of their intern pool to full-time positions in 2015.
Completion of an internship has value not just in boosting employment opportunities after graduation, but in determining starting salaries for recent b-school graduates. Nearly a quarter (23%) of employers who responded to the 2016 Corporate Recruiter Survey reported that participation in an internship would positively influence the base starting salary offered to a new graduate business hire.
For more on 2017 hiring and salary projections, as well as analysis of employer organizational goals, download the 2016 Year-End Poll of Employers.