Asian-American MBAs Look for Work Overseas

In our economic meltdown in the U.S. it turns out it’s harder to get a job if you’re a graduating MBA than it used to be. Apparently this is driving some Asian Americans and U.S.- educated Asians to consider opportunities outside the U.S., specifically in China, India, and other Asian countries.

I often wished I had been able to take the route of working overseas after my MBA, but instead I took the easy choice and ended up working here in the U.S. Working overseas would certainly have given me a different life experience and one that I’m sure would have reflected positively on my resume. But I’m also not sure I would have wanted to feel like I was being forced into that decision, like many are today because of the economic situation.

Voice of America News reported that New York City is warning about a projected loss of 46,000 financial jobs and a loss of hundreds of thousands more jobs that depend on Wall Street by 2010. Those numbers should be enough to make any graduating MBA student nervous. Since our economic troubles aren’t a new phenomenon, it should be no surprise that China, India, and other Asian countries have already seen an upsurge of highly educated returnees. According to the Chinese government, the number of returnees increased by 55 percent in the last year. What is surprising, is the numbers at this education level. We’ve all seen the reports of immigrant workers returning to their home country due to the poor economy. This article on MBAs looking for work overseas just goes to show that the recession is touching people across the entire workforce spectrum.