Internationals Having More Trouble Landing U.S. Jobs - Poets&Quants

University of Virginia, Darden School of Business

With the U.S. economy at full employment, you’ve got to expect that this year will turn out to be a highly successful one for MBA graduates. But among the good news there’s already signs that international graduates are having a tougher time landing jobs in the U.S.

The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business reports a healthy 4.7% gain to $160,717 in average salary and bonus for this year’s MBA graduates, up from $153,453 a year earlier. Most of the jump was the result of an 11% rise in starting bonus to $35,430, reported by 93% of the class,  from $31,966 last year, when 90% reported getting a sign-on bonus.

Darden reported that 94% of this year’s graduating MBAs had at least one offer of employment within 90 days of commencement, up from 93%. But within those figures there was a significant disparity between U.S. students and internationals. Only 85% of international MBAs had received a job offer in that same timeframe versus 98% of domestic graduates, a 13-point gap. A year ago, the gap was just two percentage points, with 92% of internationals reporting a job offer within three months of graduation vs. 94% of U.S. students.

“The gap between the U.S. and internationals is bigger than we would have liked it to be, but our outcomes are good,” says Jeff McNish, assistant dean of Darden’s Career Development Center. While McNish points out that the U.S. government has not reduced the number of people getting H1B visas, it is making it more difficult for internationals to get those work visas. “The one thing we are hearing more is that the  processing of immigrant documents is taking longer. More students and employers are getting requests for evidence than in the past.”

Besides the lower rates of placement, more internationals are also forgoing the chance to working the U.S. “We had a lot of international students decide to return home then they did in 2016 or 2917,” adds McNish. “Many in the Class of 2018 had a plan B  and saw opportunities blossoming at home and made the decision to return.”

While consulting remained the industry of choice for Darden MBAs, with 32% of the class headed into that industry, consulting was slightly down from 34% a year earlier. The technology sector claimed a record group, 18%, up four percentage points from 14% last year. More MBAs also accepted jobs in financial services, with 26% of the MBA taking jobs in that sector, versus 24% last year

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This year’s top employers were led by McKinsey & Co., which hired 18 grads up from 14 last year, Amazon (17 versus 10 a year earlier), BCG with 15 hires, Bain with 14 hires, and J.P Morgan (13). Darden said its graduates entered diverse roles in 15 different industries and 25 different job functions.

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