Cassie Gilbert, Head of Careers and Professional Development at Imperial College Business School

“The recession was a truly global phenomenon and no country and no city was insulated or isolated from the effects. But in London, businesses are now directing increasing energies to post-recession growth strategies.

For MBA students that means entrepreneurial skills and an understanding of how to make innovation effective are in demand. Innovation is what smart firms do to grow out of recession and research shows entrepreneurial businesses move out of recession more rapidly.

There are also more subtle changes that forward-looking schools such as Imperial have responded to quickly and positively. Institutional reputation and alumni and academic staff networks are again important differentiators when choosing a school.

And what may once have been regarded as ‘nice-to-haves’ such as alumni development services, personal continuing learning initiatives and indeed a connected and switched on careers service are now key offerings in an MBA package.

The way I look at the London jobs market, especially in banking and finance, is that while it did shrink globally through the recession it did so fairly evenly, so London is still the biggest player.

It is very much a recruiter’s market though and that is unlikely to change quickly so prospective MBA students and those further along in their post-MBA career need to wring every possible advantage from their course, their institution, and that institution’s post-graduation services.”