According to GMAC’s annual Corporate Recruiters Survey, 99 percent of employers express some level of confidence in business school’s ability to prepare graduates to be successful in their organizations—favorability that is consistent across regions and industries.

Based on a sample of more than 1,100 corporate recruiters and hiring managers at staffing firms in 46 countries, the survey report and a recent webinar about the findings detailed today’s hiring environment, employers’ perceptions of graduate management education (GME), and which skills employers believe will shape the workplace of tomorrow. 

Read on for three key facts based on insights from the report and remarks from webinar panelists Kimberly Rice DeGross, Esq., from the University of Maryland Smith School of Business and Dong-Work (DW) Lee from Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi.

1. Employers are more concerned about country leaders than last year as they make their hiring decisions in a complex political and economic landscape.

The Corporate Recruiters Survey was fielded in January to March of 2025, and much has changed about the hiring environment since then. However, the survey results still revealed early signs of employers’ concerns about how country leaders might impact their hiring decisions—with the most pronounced year-over-year change in Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.  

Though employers’ hiring projections were optimistic in Q1 of 2025—including estimated expansion of hiring graduates who require additional legal documentation—U.S. career services offices are not necessarily seeing this come to fruition.  

“[Employers are] not as willing to sponsor or hire international students that are not permanent U.S. residents—even for internships…This has been especially so in the tech and consulting fields,” said Rice DeGross, who serves as the Smith School’s Assistant Dean of Strategic Relations and Head of The Office of Career Services, during the webinar. “The good news is that health care, manufacturing, and supply chain are still open to sponsoring, as are international companies with offices in the U.S.” 

Several years of results from the Corporate Recruiters Survey indicate that the hiring of international graduates tends to be more favorable in regions outside of the United States, though Lee cautioned that changing policy and an influx of international talent to the Middle East may pose challenges to the hiring outcomes of GME graduates in the region.  

“International students, I think, need to manage expectations around employment opportunities as we see more job-seeking talent looking at the region who are not necessarily in GME programs, but already employed and looking elsewhere,” said Lee, who serves as Director at Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Career Management Center. “They make the employment landscape more competitive than ever before.”

2. Employers are increasingly confident in GME graduates’ handling of technological disruption—but have some concerns about the latest generation of talent entering the workforce.  

Despite a challenging hiring environment, survey respondents still demonstrated an enduring trust in business school’s ability to prepare graduates to be successful in their organizations. When asked why they are confident in GME, employers in 2025 were more likely to say that graduates are innovative and able to navigate the challenges of technological disruption compared to 2020. 

However, some employers express concern about the latest cohort of business school graduates. While most global employers agreed that today’s GME graduates demonstrate the same level of professionalism—defined as accountability, reliability, respectfulness, and professional appearance—as graduates from previous years, about a quarter of more client-facing consulting and health care/pharmaceutical employers disagreed.  

There was also variation by region, with just 46 percent of U.S. employers reporting recent graduates’ commensurate professionalism compared to 73 percent of employers in Central and South Asia and the Middle East.  

“There tends to be a conservative, traditional expectation set amongst more professional services, because there are so many professional firms and advisories and institutions that are based here to build the economy,” said Lee, who is based in the United Arab Emirates. “Those kind of practices and norms cascade down to other industries, and they impact what is expected of a graduate in terms of professionalism.”

3. Problem-solving and strategic thinking remain employer and candidates’ most important skills, with preference for AI on the rise.

According to the survey of corporate recruiters along with GMAC’s annual survey of prospective students, more than half of both employers and candidates agree that problem-solving, strategic thinking, and communication skills are important for students to learn in business school.  

The surveys also reveal both groups’ growing interest in skills using artificial intelligence (AI)—especially through experiences that help develop core business skills in decision-making and strategy. However, employers demonstrate more interest in the development of students’ human skills like emotional intelligence, initiative, and coachability compared to candidates considering business school.  

“Your ability to problem solve is a human skill,” said Rice DeGross. “It is not something that ChatGPT or any other form of AI is going to help you do. And the more you can demonstrate that, the better you will be in standing out.” 

As AI, a new generation of talent entering the workforce, and swings in geopolitical and economic outlooks reshape today’s hiring marketing, the results of the Corporate Recruiters Survey indicate that business school’s ability to cultivate relevant skills underlies employers’ trust in GME.  

“I think that human skills and interpersonal skills are going to still be the key skills that will not go away anytime soon,” said Lee. “Can I put these candidates in front of a client or expect synergetic collaboration across teams with good communication skills? I think those are, at the end of the day, the questions that need to be answered to either press the hire button or not.” 

Visit the Corporate Recruiters Survey web page for the full report, including tailored regional and industry insights, employer perceptions of remote work and learning, hiring and salary trends, and much more.