MBA Employment Report shows continued global career reach

As technology continues to change our social and professional lives, it’s also altering the career paths of IESE MBA graduates.

According to the newly released 2019 Employment Report, the share of graduates entering the tech sector has spiked 62% since 2017, with 26% of Class of 2019 grads entering the field. Amazon, Google and Facebook were among the firms vying for alums eager to join the digital innovation rush.

All told, 94% of Class of ’19 graduates had received a job offer within three months of commencement, as calculated according to the MBACSE rules.

 The More Things Change…

While tech’s popularity is surging, consulting remains for now the most popular destination of IESE MBAs. Thirty-three percent of the class took offers in that sector, at firms including McKinsey & Company. Upon enrolling at IESE, 12% of those students had previous consulting experience. The industrial sector accounted for 21% of jobs and financial services, 20%.

The most recent employment numbers demonstrate that completing an MBA at IESE offers a tremendous platform for people thinking of switching careers, as they have access to a dedicated careers center with expertise in many different sectors and geographies.

The option to take a corporate internship, or to work on your own entrepreneurship project, during the summer between the first and second years of the program also enables career changers to test and get experience in a new field.

IESE students also continued to seek geographic change. The 2019 report shows that 25% of graduates accepted offers to stay and work in Spain. Europe was the most popular region to work in, with 55% of graduates accepting jobs there. Latin America (17%) and Asia (13%) trailed Europe as sought-after career destinations.

An impressive 21% of 2019 alums made what is known as the “triple jump,” or a change in career sector and function as well as geographic base.

Ryan Fritsch is just one recent alum whose professional journey attests to the transformational potential of an IESE MBA. The former U.S. Navy bomb defusal expert graduated IESE this spring and is now working in Belgium as the Luxembourg Country Manager at global beer behemoth Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“Coming to IESE with a non-traditional background and from the United States, the school provided me with the education, interview skills, and network to secure an internship, and subsequent full-time offer, at my target company within AB InBev,” said Fritsch.  

“Beyond getting an offer from my dream company, IESE provided me the context that enabled me to receive an offer for a position within Europe, which I gladly accepted.”

The IESE MBA Class of 2019 counts 356 students, 32% of them women, from 50 different countries.

Download the full 2019 Employment Report here.