The upcoming NCAA basketball tournament has put me back in the mood for a little hoop action.  So, I thought I’d keep with that spirit and even do some reminiscing.  Every year in high school I remember the eager anticipation of basketball tryouts.  It was definitely much different than business is today.  Tryouts were all about performance and you had to show your stuff every year if you wanted to make the team.  On that first day we were all anxious to see who would show up to the tryouts.  We were looking to see if there were any new tall kids or really good shooters that might threaten our chances of winning a position.   If you’re that way too, consider this post a scouting report for the new lineup of MBA students.

The away game.  Playing basketball on the road always had a little stigma to it.  Afterall, it was a court you didn’t play on too much so you didn’t feel as comfortable playing on it as you did on your own court.  For American and European MBA students, they don’t play outside their comfort zone much.  Most stay within their own country to earn the MBA.  Whose court does everyone else want to play on?  You can expect to see a lot of new faces at the tryouts as nearly 75% of applicants from Asia, Central Asia and Latin America will choose to play outside their country.  Most are choosing to get their MBA in the United States.  About one third of African and Mid-East applicants will join these new recruits on American courts. 

The Triple double.   Back in my high school days we played every day in hopes of building some real skills for the game.  Well, it seems that what MBA students are trying to do too.   To an overall majority, pursuit of the MBA is about building skills.  About 96% of respondents from GMAC’s 2011 mba.com Prospective Students Survey said they wanted the MBA for the development of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).  Rounding out the top three accolades, all with double digit percentages, the MBA students are striving for is career advancement and increased opportunities for more challenging and interesting work.  Of course, that’s like saying you want to play basketball so you can dribble and shoot.  It’s a given.  That’s what most of us are trying to get from it.  No major news here.

The draft.  Surprisingly, many of the new MBA students are restless professionals.  They are seeking to tryout again for the same team.  They want to play for someone else and the MBA is expected to help with that change.  GMAC’s results show 51% of respondents want a job function change.  Another 37% percent want to change industries.  Only about one third want to stay on the same team, most likely in hopes of gaining a better position.  So, who do these graduates hope to be drafted by?  Consulting companies.  The consulting sector is the most attractive to industry changers, especially those currently working in finance, accounting, products and services, energy or utilities, or technology. Also, nearly 50% of those currently in the government or the nonprofit sector seek to find employment in the consulting field. Additionally, 50% of those working in health care are considering staying in the industry, but 45% are considering employment in consulting.  Lastly, 1 in 5 are considering starting their own team by diving into entrepreneurship.

Well, it’s really hard to say where all this will lead us.  Is it possible that the largest populations in the world will help us saturate the MBA market faster than the market recovers?  Maybe we saturate the ranks of middle management with MBA graduates.  Whatever happens, we’ll continue to see professionals become dissatisfied with their current career path, so much so that they make the decision to change it.  So, we’ll see professionals work to build new skills and then put them to work for a new team.