For those MBA students either about to graduate or who have just secured their degree, the MBA investment gamble appears to have paid off in spades.

Graham Hastie, director of career services at London Business School, describes the current employment market as frenzied and adds that employment prospects are buoyant.

The US-based Graduate Management Admission Council’s corporate recruiters’ survey for 2005-06, although more moderate in tone, is nonetheless equally upbeat, reporting that job openings for MBA graduates are improving.

Indeed, the report says that two out of five of new hires in 2005 had an MBA, suggesting that the qualification is valued by employers.

At Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, on-campus company presentations were up 10 per cent from the previous year. The number of recruiters at the autumn career fair was up 28 per cent, a strong indicator for the recruiting season.

Susan Amey, director of the MBA career management centre at the school, says there is strong demand for MBAs in all sectors.

Real estate, marketing, investment banking and consultancy are all big contenders, with approximately 20 per cent of the class of 2006 opting for real estate, while marketing and investment banking secured about 19 per cent respectively.

Consultancy drew 16 per cent of the class. Industry finance, general management and strategic planning are also represented.

The picture is similar at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, where the largest proportion of the class of 2006 – 288 students, or 44.2 per cent – moved into the financial services sector. Consulting was also popular with 28.7 per cent accepting job offers, while technology industries drew 5.2 per cent of students.

This year’s summer interns – a useful barometer for future employment – appear to be tracking last year’s placements with almost 50 per cent of Wharton students accepting internships within the financial services industry. A further 17.1 per cent have opted for consultancy and 7.1 per cent have chosen technology industries.

The Chicago Graduate School of Business is seeing strong interest from companies and students in job functions and industries that tend to do “just in time” recruiting, including sectors such as private equity, marketing, technology, real estate and hedge funds.

The same trends are present at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada, where there has been strong growth in the financial services sector, with 41 per cent of the MBA class of 2006 opting for finance and financial services.

A further 15 per cent of the class went to the consulting industry and 15 per cent also took jobs in the marketing field. Schulich also reports that there is continued job growth in non-traditional business sectors – mid-sized companies, entrepreneurial start-ups, the healthcare industry and cultural industries.

On the west coast, at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, the MBA class of 2006 entered a strong job market. Three months after graduation, 95 per cent of the class had job offers.

The financial services sector is popular, but unsurprisingly, given the school’s proximity to Silicon valley, the technology sector has been the leading recruitment sector, luring 25 per cent of MBA graduates, with financial services (22 per cent) and consulting industries (20 per cent) close on its heels.

However, internships for the Haas MBA class of 2007 show a slightly different pattern. While technology still leads the field, it has attracted far more students – 34 per cent – while 21 per cent of students turned to the financial services sector for their summer internships. Healthcare and biotech attracted 12 per cent and consulting 11 per cent.

Abby Scott, MBA careers director at Haas says: “The technology sector is very robust, with a number of top hiring firms – Amazon, Microsoft and Google - hiring like crazy.”

The technology sector, she adds, is the most active and Haas expects this to continue this year.

The thirst for MBAs is not limited to North America. At LBS, 97 per cent of MBA students last year had received a job offer within three months of graduation and all first year students secured either an internship or a project during the summer months.

“Everything is booming at the moment,” says Mr Hastie. The energy sector is a good example. It is always looking for accomplished employees, but especially at the moment because of its ageing population – a lot of the senior executives are thinking of retiring.

Consequently, many firms are hiring. He adds that pharmaceuticals are also recognising the value of MBAs, while both technology and telecoms are growth industries.

At LBS it is the financial sector that is wooing the greatest proportion of students. Of the MBA class of 2006, 42 per cent have opted for careers in finance. Management consultancy has also proved attractive with 25 per cent of students accepting job offers. Increasing numbers of students at LBS are also showing an interest in working in the Middle East, adds Mr Hastie, with professional services firms in the region keen to recruit MBAs.

The picture is similar in continental Europe. At IMD in Switzerland the challenge for many MBAs has been managing the multiple job offers, says Katty Ooms Suter, director of MBA admissions and career services. While financial services and consulting have shown a greater presence on campus than in previous years, IMD anticipates that around 70 per cent of the class will move in to industry.

Instituto de Empresa Business School in Spain reports that 50 per cent of its class of 2006 opted for the financial sector; financial services 20 per cent, venture capital 13 per cent, investment banking 10 per cent and investment management 7 per cent.

A further 31 per cent opted for management consultancy.

Insead at Fontainebleau also reports strong demand for MBAs with the finance sector once again leading the pack. Claire Lecoq, director of Insead career services says that year on year since 2004, more and more students have chosen careers in the financial sector. This year she adds there has been a strong presence and offers from London and New York finance sectors.

In contrast, she says the trend in Asia, at the school’s Singapore campus, is stronger towards the industry sector.

With all schools painting a rosy picture, as Ms Amey of Kenan-Flagler says: “It is an exciting time to be at school”.

However, Ms Lecoq adds a note of caution. Recruitment is cyclical she says. “We have been in an upward cycle since 2004. We have one or two years to go like this.” The recruitment climate could then possibly change.