Career Outlook With a Master’s in Business Administration
Online MBA Graduates Have More Options Than Ever
Be Prepared to Lead in Your Career
As a Krannert School of Management MBA student, you’ll have many opportunities to put the concepts you’ve learned to use in the context of real business issues. As a graduate, your advanced skills and knowledge will prepare you to step into a broad range of rewarding leadership and management roles.
Top Career Goals of MBA Graduates
According to a recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, the top MBA career goals for prospective students include¹:
| Manage people | 42% |
| Manage projects | 40% |
| Raise/salary increase | 40% |
| Senior-level position | 39% |
| Job with international travel | 35% |
| Executive-level position | 34% |
| Job with a different company | 28% |
| CEO of a company | 23% |
| Promotion | 20% |
Career Opportunities With an MBA
MBA Grads Have Skills Employers Demand
In a recent survey, corporate recruiters identified the following skills as ones they expect from business school graduates.²
- Ability to solve complex problems
- Ease working with numerical data
- Expertise in data analysis and interpretation
- Critical and logical reasoning skills
- Active listening to spoken arguments
- Effective communication and presentation skills
- Ethical behavior and determination to achieve goals
- Teaming with others to achieve a common goal
- Coachability and reflective learning skills
Master's vs. Bachelor's in Business: Career Advantages to Consider
Earning a bachelor’s in business administration covers the fundamentals of business education. An MBA builds upon that knowledge with hands-on, focused courses of study that prepare you with the leadership skills you need to land management positions that command some of the highest salaries of all major occupations.3
Business and financial positions in the U.S. are expected to grow a healthy 7% from 2018 to 2028, faster than the average for all occupations.4 Driven by the formation of new organizations and expansion of existing ones, more workers will be needed to manage operations.
| Area | Percentage of 2018 Class |
|---|---|
| Consulting | 10% |
| Finance/Accounting | 14% |
| General Management/Strategy | 6% |
| Marketing/Sales | 22% |
| Operations/Supply Chain | 34% |
| Human Resources | 14% |
Postgraduation career outcomes are for Krannert's 2-year, residential MBA program and are not representative of online study. Results are for the Class of 2018 only and do not necessarily represent results in other years, past or future. Employment results vary from year to year depending on national, regional and industry-specific economic conditions, as well as student demographics.
Discover More
Make your career goals a reality with Purdue University's Online Master of Business Administration. Call 877-491-0224 to speak with an Enrollment Specialist or request more information.
NOTES AND CONDITIONS - PLEASE READ
1 Source: Graduate Management Admission Council, Career Aspirations: mba.com Prospective Students Survey 2019, on the internet at https://www.gmac.com/-/media/files/gmac/research/prospective-student-data/career-aspirations_mbacom-prospective-students-survey-2019.pdf.
2 Source: Graduate Management Admission Council, The Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Companies Expect from Business School Graduates, Corporate Recruiters Survey 2018, on the internet at https://www.gmac.com/-/media/files/gmac/research/employment-outlook/ksa-report_corporate-recruiters-survey-2018.pdf.
3 Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Business careers with high pay,” Career Outlook, on the internet at https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2016/article/high-paying-business-careers.htm.
4 Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Business and Financial Occupations, on the internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/home.htm.