MBA graduates earn an extra 18% immediately after attaining their qualifications and have a place in the boardroom in their sights within five years, new research claims.

The Association of MBAs’ (AMBA) latest career survey found that the average MBA graduate earned a basic salary of £66,500 in 2004, while 59% of the 1,100 respondents said they reached the boardroom or senior management level five years after graduation.

MBA graduates’ average salaries also increased by 53% within this five-year period, making them ideal candidates for search firms.

Gordon Cairns, director of executive search firm Cairns Bond, believes that MBA graduates are now in a strong position. “There’s been a widening of the market and it’s probably a good time to have an MBA now,” he said.

The most popular roles for MBA graduates are in corporate strategy and planning, general management, and finance and control.

Prior work experience is also important. Respondents with five to nine years of career development before the MBA course reported average salaries of £74,500.

But Nick Cutts, chief executive of executive recruitment firm Barton International, is wary of people taking MBAs for the wrong reasons and without relevant experience.

“For me, it all depends on why, where and when people do the qualification,” said Cutts.

“MBA graduates are shortsighted if they are simply doing it to get money and without at least five years’ experience.”

Carl Tams, AMBA intelligence unit manager, believes that MBA graduates’ recent job success shows renewed buoyancy in recruitment. “After the dotcom bubble burst, people with MBAs simply weren’t getting the top roles,” he said. “But the survey shows that many are finding good roles again.”