Not only do more companies plan to hire in 2012, they plan to hire at similar or increased levels compared to 2011, according to responses to the 2011 Year-End Poll of Employers of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). The annual poll of employers, which the Council conducted from November 2 to November 16, 2011, garnered responses from 229 employers at 216 companies worldwide.

This report shows aggregated data from the study to summarize actual hiring outcomes for 2011 and preview 2012 hiring plans for six candidate types, from MBA to other master-level business school graduates.

Key Findings

Hiring Projections Are Up

• There was a noticeable increase in companies planning to hire recently graduated management talent in 2012: 74 percent plan to hire MBAs (up from 58%), 59 percent plan to hire specialized master's (up from 38%), and 51 percent look to hire Master in Management candidates (up from 36%).

• Companies also plan to hire for increasing numbers of positions in 2012 compared with 2011.

The percentage of companies expecting to increase the number of positions for new management graduates was greatest for MBAs (22%) compared with specialized master's (11%) and Master in Management (8%).

Salary Projections Remain Strong

• Nearly a third (32%) of companies planning to hire MBAs in 2012 expect to increase the annual base salary of these hires compared with 2011. In addition, 65 percent of companies plan to keep starting salaries at the same level as those offered in 2011.

• About a quarter of companies planning to hire Master in Management (27%) and specialized master's in business (26%) graduates expect to increase the annual base salary of these hires in 2012 compared with 2011.

Internships on the Rise

• The majority of companies report they offered paid internships in 2011 for all types of jobs candidates.

• Sixty-nine percent (69%) of employers plan to offer paid internships to MBA students in 2012, of which, 22 percent will increase the number offered.

• More than half of companies plan to offer paid internships to specialized master's in business (56%) and Master in Management (54%) students in 2012.