When the recession began, many students opted to enroll in graduate programs - rather than submit themselves to the job market. In hopes that the economy would improve in two years, students turned to MBA programs both to prepare for and postpone their job search.

But few have seen signs of job market improvement - until now.

Students at many business schools are now hopeful that 2010 graduates will face a better job market than their peers from the classes of 2008 and 2009 had.

MBA Job Outlook Improving

Recruiters are skittish and the job market is more competitive than ever, but career services directors say 2010 may be the year of the turnaround

This year's class of MBAs arrived on campus in September expecting a challenging fall recruiting season and now many are bracing themselves for an even tougher spring ahead. One of them is Aashini Shah, an MBA student looking for a job in the entertainment industry, who is feeling the pressure because most movie studios and entertainment companies don't hire until the spring. To get an edge, she's spent every spare moment she has networking with alumni, going on informational interviews, and keeping in touch with the contacts she made last summer, she says.

MBA Students See Signs of Job Market Thaw

BOSTON (Reuters) - Students at one of America's top business schools see evidence that high-technology, startup and alternative energy companies will hire more actively this year after a difficult 2009 for graduates. MBA students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School recently took their annual "tech trek," testing out the demand for summer internships for the class of 2011 and full-time jobs for this year's graduates. Students fanned out across Boston, Silicon Valley and Seattle, meeting with energy and high-tech enterprises. In December others visited six Boston-area biotechnology companies.