Full-time MBA – Class of 2024

For the Class of 2024, their business school experience occurred post-COVID and at the start of a declining market. Due to a shift in the hiring market and decreased conversion offers, the class ended the 3-month reporting period at 82% employed. This decrease from the past 3 years can be attributed mainly to the decline in MBA on-campus recruiting and shifts in employer focus. Employers are providing fewer conversion offers, moving away from forecasted hiring, and shifting towards a just-in-time hiring approach for business needs. Despite the challenges, many students persevered and accepted competitive offers. We continue to see a decrease in hiring in the consulting industry, and students are shifting their focus to supply chain management and targeting roles within various companies outside of top technology firms.

Full-time accepted offers

Example MBA employers*

Amazon | American Airlines | American Express | Applied Materials | Bayer | EY | Gartner | Intel | Microsoft | Northrop Grumman | Gore & Associates

*This list represents employers who have frequently recruited W. P. Carey MBA candidates in the past. Due to market shifts and employer needs, we cannot guarantee that these employers will hire future MBA talent.

Outcomes by industry and function

Operations and logistics roles were up 11% in 2024 compared to 2023. We notice a trend in students who were unsuccessful in landing a consulting opportunity shifting their focus to this area. Consulting roles were down by 17% compared to 2023. This decrease is something we saw at both the internship and full-time hiring levels and don’t anticipate changing quickly. We are still maintaining our strong career preparation program for students, ensuring those interested in this area have the tools and resources to succeed in the consulting interview process which includes leveraging new alumni in top firms for student preparation, and advocating for continual recruiting of W. P. Carey students.

Four of the top industries where students landed opportunities from this class include manufacturing (-5%), consulting (-18%), technology (+17%), and transportation and logistics services (+7%). While there is a slight dip in students pursuing opportunities within manufacturing, last year we saw a large increase in students pursuing this sector. Because of this, we still see this as a top industry of choice. In the technology industry, we saw an increase in the diversification of the type of companies students accepted offers at, including smaller and midsize organizations.

MBA career management initiatives

This year’s priorities focused on educating students on the current FTMBA hiring market across industries and encouraging them to make early decisions to ensure they are competitive in their application processes. We also noticed a continuing trend of internship extensions and worked with students to best navigate extensions while still searching for full-time opportunities.

Many students had to pivot and evolve in their job search this past year due to market changes, and many found regular individual work with their career coach to be the most helpful in navigating these changes. We had a 78% increase in coaching utilization for the Class of 2024 in their second year compared to the Class of 2023 in the same period.

With the majority of students still seeking full-time opportunities in the spring semester, we redesigned our career reboot series, which included an alumni panel in addition to networking and narrative workshops during the lunch and learns, ensuring a captive audience and helping students continue to refine their skills. Our office also partnered with SHRM and alumni to create a networking event in late spring for MBA students. We plan to replicate this event in spring 2025 to allow for additional access points.

Specialized master’s – Class of 2024

The W. P. Carey Career Services Center has committed to enacting our school’s commitment to being Where Business is Personal^Ⓡ while delivering valuable programs at scale. The overarching goal is to create tailored and relevant opportunities for students and employers to connect.

Outcomes by program

*Due to market shifts and employer needs, we cannot guarantee that all employers listed as example employers will hire future specialized master’s talent.

Undergraduate – Class of 2024

We saw continued success as the Class of 2024 navigated a complex market, with an 8% increase in students reporting accepting an offer within six months of graduating compared to the year prior. A majority of students reported securing a job within Arizona (59%) and the Southwest region at large (64%).

Full-time accepted offers

Example undergraduate employers*

Amazon | Arizona State University | The Boeing Company | Charles Schwab | Deloitte | EY | Honeywell | JP Morgan Chase & Co. | Starbucks Coffee Company | Wells Fargo

*This list represents employers who have frequently recruited W. P. Carey undergraduate students in the past. Due to market shifts and employer needs, we cannot guarantee that these employers will hire future undergraduate talent.

Outcomes by industry

Financial services continues to be an area of interest for both BS and BA students, with 24% and 17% of graduating BS and BA students working in this industry, respectively. Other top industries for the Class of 2024 include:

• Hospitality
• Government (includes education)
• Technology
• Manufacturing