What exactly is required from this year graduates?

Read more to discover amazing results!

It is hard to deny that today’s business school graduates compete more and more against one another and against other college students and experienced workers.

Few years ago technical skills and willing to compete were more important than anything else.

But today's research shows that employers most value communication skills in freshly minted graduates. Also they should be good at teamwork, leadership, techniques and management.

In fact communication skills are twice more considerable than management skills. This discovery is true all over the world for all employers, despite of industry or company size. The only exception is industry–manufacturing.

This report contains the results of research from The Global Management Education Graduate Survey. GMAC's annual poll of final year students in business school reveals that the majority of job-seeking graduates in the class of 2014 received at least one offer of employment by the time of the survey. A total of 3,049 students graduating this year at 111 universities worldwide participated in the survey. Survey respondents represented 20 countries worldwide and 92 citizenship groups.

The results are unpredictable:
• Nearly three out of five (57%) graduating students in the active job search in 2014 had received at least one offer of employment by the time of this survey. 
• More than half of graduating students this year received job offers in finance/accounting, consulting, and products/services; but those who were searching in health care and manufacturing sectors were more likely to receive job offers.
• The median expected increase in post-degree salaries is 80 percent over pre-degree salaries, which are slightly up from 73 percent in 2013.
• Graduates in 2014 reported the greatest improvement in their knowledge of general business functions, abilities to manage decision-making processes and strategy and innovation, and the combined skills of learning, motivation and leadership.

565 employers from 44 countries responded to the survey, including 36 companies in the Fortune 100. In the survey, employers were asked to rate the importance of the five general skills. For the first time they were asked to reveal the level of capability of specific skills in each category that would be required for a business school graduate to receive a mid-level position in particular companies.

For instance, GMAC discovered that the top five skills employers look for new hires refer to the sphere of communication. Oral communication and listening skills take first and second places, respectively. Then written communication and presentation skills occur. The fifth most highly ranked skill is adaptability.