The 2024 Corporate Recruiters Survey, carried out by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), asked influential employers from around the globe to share the skills they felt were the most important for business school grads to possess. The survey also quizzed recruiters on which skills they believed will become more important within the next five years.
Based on responses from more than 900 recruiters from 38 countries, just over half of whom were hiring for Global Fortune 100 or 500 companies, the survey revealed that while well-established business skills like critical thinking and communication are still valued, there is substantial variation in specific capabilities that recruiters are seeking across industries and regions.
What Are The Top Current Business Skills?
Among survey respondents, the ability to solve problems was closely followed by communication skills as the most important current business skills. Communication includes a broad spectrum of abilities such as written, verbal, and presentation skills.
However, the specific communication skills that were most valued varied between regions.
While US employers tended to rate verbal communication, presentation, and active listening skills, East and Southeast Asian employers preferred negotiating and digital communications skills.
The third most desirable business skill among recruiters was strategic thinking. Other highly rated abilities largely encompassed so called 'soft skills', such as teamwork, adaptability, decision making, time management, and initiative.
There were industry-specific differences in what employers said they were looking for when it came to business skills.
Although problem solving, communication and strategic thinking were top skills for consulting (the most popular career path for b-school students), consulting recruiters were also more likely to value time management, data analysis, coachability, and emotional intelligence compared to other industries.
Similarly, tech employers were more concerned with IT skills—specifically data visualization and cloud software— than companies in other fields, as well as AI and decision-making.
Perhaps surprisingly, despite being a hot topic over the last 18 months, AI ranked as one of the least important skills for employers.
However, there was regional variability when it came to AI: while just 13% of US recruiters were interested in graduates who can use AI tools, this rose to a much more substantial 49% among employers from Central and South Asia.
What Are The Top Future Business Skills?
Although many employers believed most in-demand skills today would remain so in five years time, the report predicted a number of changes.
While strategic thinking and problem-solving remained among the top skills for tomorrow’s workplace, according to recruiters, communication dropped down to seventh on the list.
Tech and IT skills were vaulted to third place as business skills for the future, closely followed by AI— indicative of the fact that many workplaces expect to see the technology's disruptive effects in the near future.
Other notable differences included increased importance placed on innovation and grit, which rose to place among recruiters' top 10 skills for the future.
Increased emphasis on grit—defined by passion, perseverance, resilience, and determination towards achieving long-term goals—corresponded with the emphasis employers also placed on human skills in the future workplace.
Again, there were variations when results were broken down by different industries and regions.
While problem-solving and strategic thinking remained top future business skills within consulting, adaptability overtook communication. This is likely due to the client-facing nature of the consulting industry, which throws unpredictable and complex issues at employees.
These traits were mirrored within the healthcare industry, where employers rated strategic thinking and adaptability above other general future business skills.
In finance and accounting—highly popular industries for b-school students—adaptability, strategic thinking, and tech skills were revealed as priorities for the future.
Technology employers primarily focused on tech and IT skills for the future of work. A significant 27% also favored the ability to use AI tools and 21% cited adaptability as important.
Notably, products and services was the only other sector where employers considered AI amongst their top three future skills—with 25% highlighting its importance. Other major skills were strategic thinking (38%) and problem solving (28%).
Employers from the US and East and Southeast Asia were the most similar in the business skills they valued for the future. Both regions ranked strategic thinking and problem solving as of paramount importance. Europe was an outlier, with 23% of employers valuing AI tools over IT and strategic thinking.
Meanwhile, employers from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America were unified in prioritizing IT and tech skills as important for the future.
