Identifying MBA Talent

August 17 2006 - Fortune 500 employers are discovering that recruitment of 'perfect fit' MBA talent on the campuses of leading business schools is becoming more difficult than ever, says MBA Scouting Report, a new company specializing in early identification of new MBA students in the United States and abroad.

There is an increase in the number of applicants to business schools, but corporations are seeing a 'significant dilution' in the pool of desirable MBA students at top tier establishments. Students are now spread among first and second tier schools as well as across multiple MBA programs (part-time, online and executive). Schools are compensating by reducing class sizes and/or admitting more international students, most of whom lack long-term work visas, says MBA Scouting Report.

For employers, this means they must send more recruiters to more campuses and spend more money trying to identify candidates with the desired qualifications for their organizations. For many, this process is too much of a drain on already-stretched resources. 'Organizations that don't adjust to these challenges will find themselves falling short of their hiring goals or reducing the quality of their hires', the company warns.

Maury Hanigan, president of the MBA Scouting Report said:

'MBA recruiting is akin to professional sports recruiting. You go out and find the best talent, you don't wait to see who shows up at tryouts. Today, employers must identify candidates very early in the school year in order to get the best candidates, rather than wait to choose from students who sign up for an interview or submit a resume. Recruiting talent early on is one of the ways for organizations to maintain their competitive edge.'

Some candidates - particularly those from minority groups - are recruited as early as the summer before their first year of business school, so employers cannot afford to wait until the spring semester to identify potential interns. MBA Scouting Report addresses this with a targeted, pre-screened list of students that meet the organizations' requirements. The employer can then begin to build a relationship with the best students before formal interviewing begins.

Potential benefits to Fortune 500 clients are seen to include:

• Cost reduction - companies do not spend time and money interviewing candidates who are eventually not hired.
• Broader candidate pool - top students from more schools can be considered without increasing the organization's recruiting staff or budget.
• Greater yield - more candidates accept job offers because they have been engaged with company recruiters for longer.
• Better hires - companies don't miss highly qualified candidates because they didn't pick them out of a resume book or connect with them at a recruiting event.
• Earlier identification - the interview process is streamlined by eliminating hundreds of non-qualified students from the interview process, putting companies ahead in the competition to hire top MBAs that represent a 'perfect fit' for their organization.

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