Choosing to do an MBA is quite a difficult call. Why I am saying this is because on one hand it is very expensive to take up the course. On the other hand, for most of us, it is the final leg of our academic career. Hence, there are no second chances. This makes it reasonable to be extra cautious while selecting colleges and one of the most important factors in our selection process is the ROI. Let’s try to dig deep into the job market in order to understand returns and drill down some of the Highest paying jobs for MBA graduates.
To begin with, let’s start by discussing some of the highest paying jobs in various domains.
Highest Paying Jobs for MBA Graduates
Organisations today are increasingly preferring candidates with an MBA degree to take up managerial roles. They have high expectations in terms of analytical abilities, strategic thinking and ability to work cohesively in a team.
This is because the curriculum during the two years of MBA exposes individuals to all kinds of subjects that matter to business. In addition to that, the environment at B-Schools is specially designed to enhance behavioural aspects of the candidate in terms of working in a team and taking decisions.
This value that businesses seek from MBA graduates is rewarded in terms of a wholesome remuneration. Let’s start by listing down of some of the Highest Paying Jobs for MBA graduates.
Investment Banker
An Investment banking job is the most sought by MBA graduates, especially the Finance Graduates, because of the high returns associated with it.
An Investment Banker is an individual who is a part of a financial institution and is primarily responsible for raising capital for corporations, government or other entities.
Some of the other responsibilities that they handle include managing Mergers and Acquisitions, Risk assessment of a particular project and assisting in pricing financial instruments.
I will also include a wheel of responsibilities that the Investment Banker uptakes in any organisation.
Something important for you all to take away from this article:
Investment Banking role demands you to take a specialization in Finance. Considering the curriculum and the placement scenario, IIM Calcutta is the best B-School for Finance. Offers in Finance touched the highest mark of Rs. 50.00 lakh p.a. with average salary of Rs. 26.00 lakh p.a.
Typical career path for an Investment Banker in an organisation is:
Management Consultant
This is one of kind leadership role that gives an opportunity to work with high level executives from varied industries.
Simply put, Management Consultants help organisations solve problems, provide solutions for changing business needs and develop plan of action to implement suggested solutions. The scope of work is highly variable wherein, in some cases it is restricted to strategy development and in other cases extending to process optimisation, change management and final implementation.
The highest salaries of Management Consultants can be a whopping sum of 18-60 lakhs.
The career path of Management Consultants looks somewhat like this:
Source: mconsultingprep.com
ISB Hyderabad, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta are the leading colleges offering courses in Strategy. The highest Salary in ISB reaches upto 33 lakhs per annum with an average salary of 26.5 lakhs per annum.
Marketing Manager
Third up in the list of highest paying jobs for MBA graduates is Marketing Manager.
Marketing has a profound impact on every element of the company and hence this role comes with huge responsibilities.
Marketing managers have to work on formulating marketing strategies for product and services. Their work starts at estimating market demand. They simultaneously look after creating and managing marketing plans, plan out budget and cost estimates, negotiate with clients for sales contracts and work on PR activities for the company.
Top 10% of marketing managers in the Indian market earn close more than Rs. 30.6 lakhs a year.
FMS Delhi is known to be the ‘Marketing Campus of India’. Over the period of last three years, at least 1 out of 4 students opts for Sales and Marketing role in their campus placement drive. IIM Ahmedabad & IIM Lucknow lead the list of colleges which offer the best marketing courses in the country. The highest pay packages for entry level roles after MBA reach close to Rs. 30 Lakhs per annum.
Career path for a Marketing Manager looks like this:
Source: pininterest.com
Also Read: What is MBA in marketing all about
Sales Manager
Sales managers are responsible for day-to-day management of sales activities and the various sales associates. They play a very crucial role in helping to grow companies’ top line without sacrificing the customer’s satisfaction.
They are also responsible for demand forecasting and inventory management specially in the case of FMCG industries.
Career path of a sales manager may look like the following:
Source: www.makemoneydirectories.com
IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Bangalore make it to the top of the list of colleges preferred for Sales profile. Entry level salaries go as high as 24 lakhs per annum.
Information Technology Manager
IT managers are technology-oriented individuals who use a combination of their tech knowledge and business acumen to head IT teams that help in building and sustaining IT infrastructure in a company.
With an increasing intervention of technology in all domains of business, this role is expected to see a growth by 12% by 2026. An IT Manager oversees IT policy implementation in the organisation, facilitates regular system audits and shares regular budget and system reports for the IT infrastructure with the management.
The highest salaries that IT managers get in India is around 30 Lakhs per annum.
The career progression for an IT manager looks like this:
Also Read: Why MBA and Marketing for IT professionals
IIM Lucknow is the most sought-after college in India for specialization in IT Systems. Courses such as Business Data Communications, Big Data Analytics and Enterprise Risk Management are offered. The various Institutes in India with technical prowess such as IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi, to name a few, are some other centers for developing IT Systems Managers. The median pay package is close to 23 lakhs per annum.
Product Manager
Next up in our line-up of the Highest paying jobs for MBA graduates is the role of Product Managers.
Product managers are responsible to look after the conceptualisation and implementation of a product or service from start to end.
These individuals require a knack for strategy and customer centricity because at all points in their product development process they have to be agile to accommodate changing market sentiments.
IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode and ISB Hyderabad are the colleges known for their curriculum and placements in Product Management Role. The median base salary offered to Product managers is 18 lakh per annum in India with the highest touching 23 lakhs per annum.
Operations Manager
Operations Managers are responsible to oversee the organisations production of goods and services. A lot of the commonly talked about terms in operations such as sourcing, purchasing, inventory and warehouse management and production come under the aegis of Operations Managers.
With that we conclude with a list of potential highest paying jobs for MBA graduates around the world.
MBA is not the only option to get to all these positions that we have discussed before, but it sure is a fast-tracked method to achieve these.
But what is it that makes MBA a preferred option for most freshers straight out of college and also working individuals?
NITIE Mumbai, XLRI, SPJain and IIM Bangalore make it to the list of top colleges preferred for specialization in operations. The average salary offered by these colleges falls in the range of 19 to 25 lakhs per annum.
HR Manager
The next in the list of highest paying jobs for MBA graduates in India is HR Manager.
An HR Manager in an organisation is responsible for developing and implementing HR strategies and initiatives in an organisation. Managing recruitment and onboarding of employees, bridging the gap between employees and management, addressing grievances and helping build a cohesive company culture are some of the primary duties that come under the HR manager’s aegis.
Source:shiksha.com
XLRI Leads the list of Institutes offering specialization in HR. Some other colleges that are some of the best colleges in India for specialization in HR are Management Development Institute and Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The median salary for HR roles in these colleges lies between 16-20 lakhs per annum.
Why is MBA Valued So Much?
How much does an MBA increase your salary? A crucial question that all of us have been asked is whether to put in the huge investment seeing the returns that it delivers.
Recruiters have a high confidence in MBA graduates solely based on these three expectations- A versatile skillset, Strategic Thinking and Strong Communication Skills.
According to a study by QS World University Rankings on Global MBA Rankings 2019, the average MBA graduate increases their salary by 77%. Now that’s a very satisfying and attractive figure!
But the catch here is that these are just superfluous text and numbers until combined with one important ingredient.
This ingredient is the one we generally use as our answer to Why MBA? The one where we say that we want to opt for an MBA to upskill ourselves. Let’s for once internalise this answer of why we need to gather the required skills apart from the tag of being an MBA graduate.
Importance of Skills for MBA Graduates
MBA graduates are required to have what we call as the T-Shapes skills. This means that these students should have a vide knowledge of all domains of business but must have niche expertise in one or the other domain.
3-4 years down the line of joining the company, it is the point of differentiation that helps management to recognise the worth of you as an individual in the company. So, acquiring skills should be the top-most priority of students while working to earn a management degree.
When asked, can an MBA make you rich? The answer to that is Sure it Can but only if you are rich in skills.
If you want to get a wider perspective and are interested to know the gravity of acquiring skills, you should surely opt for our course- Five Steps Ahead.
The course has been beautifully curated to give you an understanding of how to proceed in a strategically planned manner in your career after you join your respective B-Schools.
It is formulated from a Marketing domain perspective but the frameworks and approach to look at career choices can be applied to any domain that you are looking to work for.
With that we will move on to summarise a list some of the highest paying companies in India for MBA graduates:
Most Sought After Companies in India for MBA graduates
Until now we have a knowledge of some of the highest paying jobs for MBA graduates. In this segment we will look at some of the Dream Companies of B-school graduates.
We will list down some of the highest paying specialisations in India, though we have a subtle idea about it.
Specialisation in Finance:
Specialisation in Finance is a leading Job catcher with some of the highest salaries. Some of the profiles after a specialisation in Finance are:
- Investment Banking
- Financial Consulting
- Financial Analyst
- Equity Researcher
- Banking Manager
- Capital Advisors
Some of the highest paying companies in India for MBA freshers and work-ex individuals that offer the most eyed roles after a specialisation in Finance are:
Specialisation in Sales & Marketing:
Some of the leading profiles in Sales & Marketing after MBA are:
- Sales Managers
- Marketing Managers
- Brand Managers
- Marketing Research Analyst
- Product Manager
- Business Development Manager
- Digital Marketing Manager
The matrix of companies with the most attractive job profiles and salaries recruiting in the Sales & Marketing domain from top B-Schools are:
Specialisation in Operations:
Some of the widely sought profiles with a specialisation in operations are:
- Procurement/Sourcing Managers
- Plant/Facility Manager
- Logistics Manager
- Warehouse Manager
- Supply Chain Manager
Let’s also have a look at some of the leading companies offering roles in operations to MBA graduates:
Specialisation in HR:
The matrix of companies that are some of the most sought-after companies by top B-School Graduates are
Other Top Companies that recruit in various domains such as strategy, product management and IT services are:
Conclusion
- Choosing to do an MBA is a taxing decision and we often are stuck evaluating the Return on Investment before and after joining colleges.
- The highest paying jobs for MBA graduates are led by the finance domain, followed by Sales & Marketing, Management Consulting, IT services and then Operations.
- It does not end at a good B-School that we get in. It is important to acquire niche skills to prove our mettle in the long run.
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