In the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, according to Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. Sadly, for both the young men and women who are MBA students, their thoughts this spring are more likely to turn to impending unemployment and debt.

Not since 2002, following the terrorist attacks in New York, the bursting of the dotcom bubble and general economic gloom, have times seemed so difficult for those graduating from MBA programmes. But, while investment banks and financial services companies - the traditional MBA recruiters - are retrenching, many students are finding there are real opportunities elsewhere.