We recently caught up with Ed Bernier, Assistant Dean for Daytime MBA Career Services at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, for another conversation about what's happening in the current MBA job market.

Last year, Bernier shared insights about how Fuqua's career center operates – from their team structure to how they help students navigate recruiting.

This time, we wanted to understand what's working for students in today’s market and what's changed since we last talked.

When Bernier looks at where MBA hiring stands as we kick off 2026, the forecast is mixed.

To start consulting has become more competitive. Not only has the number of consulting roles decreased over the past few years, but demand seems to have increased. Bernier hypothesizes one reason is the recruiting process is clear: consulting follows a defined hiring timeline, and in an increasingly uncertain job market, students often find comfort in landing a lucrative position early in their MBA tenure rather than worrying whether they will be employed come graduation.

Bernier has noticed this trend at other top MBA programs, as employment reports for many programs show that the number of active job seekers accepting consulting roles has increased. This makes the race for a consulting seat more competitive across the board.

Recruiting for banking roles is essentially flat. However, tech has been relatively stable, despite constant headlines about layoffs: “Our numbers suggest it's going the other way,” Bernier notes. “When consulting contracted, students had to go somewhere – and tech absorbed some of them.”

Healthcare shows up in every US jobs report as a growth engine, but those headlines are misleading for MBAs. “To launch one more pharma drug doesn't take 45 more MBAs. It takes two,” Bernier explains. “The growth is happening on the provider side – nurses, doctors, technicians – not in roles MBAs typically target.”

It’s no surprise that international students are having a tougher time in the recruiting process. Also, programs with higher international student percentages are particularly challenged in this environment.

For example, Duke's Class of 2025 was 48% international, compared to some peer schools in the 30% range. This has a significant effect on post-graduate employment rates.

“International students on average receive and accept offers a bit later and this is based on US work authorization barriers,” Bernier says. In other words, the percentage of students with job offers and acceptances will look a bit different at a program like Fuqua versus one with 30% international students.

So, when evaluating MBA employment reports, look beyond those broad stats (e.g. % with job offers +3 months from graduation). Instead, look at the trends for your target industry / function and who’s hiring; talk with current students and career offices to understand the real story.

Specifically, what separates the students who land offers from those who are still looking months after graduation? And what should new grads focus on?

“Focus on making human connections with people who have the job you want,” Bernier says.

In other words, focus more on engaging your desired future co-workers and less on revising your resume for the hundredth time.

“If you can understand employers, you're going to be better equipped to serve them,” Bernier explains. ”Connect with the people who have the jobs you want. Make contacts, learn from contacts, and hopefully leverage this relationship. The very acting of connecting (and specifically communicating) with another person opens the door for an increased understanding of what you want to do and an increased understanding of what it takes to be successful in a given role.”

That is the real opportunity.

As the ability to apply to jobs becomes easier due to automated technology, leading to more resumes per open role, it has become increasingly important to differentiate yourself. “With the newfound bandwidth created by AI, I recommend focusing on the one thing that will measurably improve your odds: talking to the person who has the job you want. It beats buying one more MBA job lottery ticket (which is how I describe the blind application) every day.”

The ability to reach out to someone and have an informational interview takes courage. “No one wants to be the first person on the dance floor. But once you're out there, you're out there,” he says. “That initial hump is the hardest part – but once students get comfortable with it, everything gets easier.”

Another critical piece is flexibility.

Students who are willing to be flexible, meet new people, and expand beyond their initial target list of companies are landing offers. Fuqua pushes students to start this work in August or September and not wait until January when on-campus recruiting hasn't panned out.

When asked, employers of MBA grads predict that AI skills will be the most sought-after capability in the coming years. However, what employers value right now is something different: flexibility and agility. Specifically, it’s the willingness to pick up something new that nobody else knows yet.

“If you have a candidate that could use AI to help them in their job and in their life, yet that candidate makes the active decision every day to ignore said tools, that says something about them,” Bernier explains.

Don’t be that person!

For prospective students trying to time the market for 2029 outcomes, Bernier's advice is simple: don't time the market.

“If they could do that, they should be gambling their money in different ways,” he says. “The MBA still makes sense for the classic archetypes:

“The MBA still wins in each of these scenarios,” Bernier says. “There's tremendous value there.”

The way students need to approach recruiting has changed, but that doesn't undermine the fundamental case for the degree. What matters, though, is understanding how the market is evolving and what it takes to be successful in the recruiting process.

Make decisions about pursuing an MBA based on personal and professional readiness… not predictions about job market cycles you can't control.

The students landing jobs in this market aren’t necessarily “perfect” on paper.

Instead, they act to develop relationships with target employers; they look beyond the 20 companies their peers are targeting; and they remain laser-focused on their advocacy-building process knowing that it is most effective way to earn job offers.

The MBA job market will continue to evolve, but the students who adapt and lead with empathy and curiosity won’t just be getting jobs – they’ll be building careers.

Ed Bernier is the Assistant Dean for Daytime MBA Career Services at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.