Alumni Perspectives, part III: Key Drivers of MBA Job Satisfaction

As mentioned in last week’s Alumni Perspectives, part II: MBA Compensation Trends, the highest on the job satisfaction list is the lowest on the median salary list. Here, in part III of our analysis of GMAC’s Alumni Perspectives Survey for 2013, we are going to dig deeper into job satisfaction and how the Graduate Management Admissions Council derives its metrics.

In case you were worried that job satisfaction was measured by a “who checked yes and who checked no” approach, allay your fears now. GMAC dug much deeper. To devise an overall job satisfaction rating in last year’s report, GMAC evaluated both intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers as well as company strategies for worker retention. A goal for this year’s research was to better understand how the daily life of the employee and the multiple facets of how a workday is structured influence the perception of occupational contentment. Additional variables taken into account were task analyses, characteristics of a typical workweek, and other work options like telecommuting or flex scheduling.

The 2013 report uncovers particularly interesting insights into the intersection of an employee’s key tasks and feelings of fulfillment. In the past, work considered challenging and interesting correlated to high degrees of satisfaction. However, this begs the question, what makes for challenging and interesting work?

According to Figure 8 in the 2013 report, the top four drivers of job satisfaction are consistent opportunities to: display leadership, engage in analytical thinking, develop strategic plans, and utilize problem-solving skills. What is even more intriguing is that these top four drivers of job satisfaction are also the top four skills and traits sought in newly minted MBAs as per the findings in GMAC’s 2012 Corporate Recruiters Survey.

Next week, part IV of out Alumni Perspectives series peels apart what the report has to say about how MBAs rate the value of their education. In short, we’ll assess answers to the question, “Was it worth it?”