RESTON, VA--(Marketwire - Oct 13, 2011) - As recruiting for coveted internships begins to heat up at business schools, recent surveys of graduates and employers by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) show how important internships are in securing a full-time job after graduation.
Forty-two percent of MBA and specialized master's graduates from the GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey said they participated in an internship while in school. Further, this year's graduates who did an internship were 26 percent more likely to have a job offer upon graduation than their classmates without an internship.
"The value of an internship can't be underestimated -- for both the employer and the employee," said Michelle Sparkman-Renz, director of research communications at GMAC. "Whether or not a candidate has work experience, internships are effective in helping students realize their career ambitions. And in a hyper-competitive job market, an internship is a great way for a student to shine and get their résumé put on the top of the pile when applying for a full-time job at the company."
In the GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey, data from employers suggests that internships are one of the best ways for job candidates to prove themselves in their targeted industry of employment. The transformation of a student from an intern to a full-time employee was notable in both the consulting and high tech sectors, with a 70 percent rate of hire for interns that applied to and received full-time positions last year.
- For more details, download the summary reports of the 2011 Global Management Education Graduate Survey and the Corporate Recruiters Survey.
- Related information on internships and the job search is available at the GMAC News Center.
About GMAC
The Graduate Management Admission Council (www.gmac.com) is a nonprofit education organization of leading graduate business schools worldwide dedicated to creating access to and disseminating information about graduate management education. GMAC is based in Reston, Virginia, and has regional offices in London (U.K.), New Delhi (India) and Hong Kong. The GMAT® exam was created in 1954 and is used by more than 5,100 graduate management programs at approximately 2,000 business schools around the world to assess applicants. The GMAT -- the only standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programs worldwide -- is continuously available at more than 550 test centers in over 111 countries. More information about the GMAT exam is available at mba.com.