The landscape for business has greatly changed since the global financial crisis hit. Many of the big employers that hired from these schools, including Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, are no longer in existence – and that’s causing concern among business school students. However, a good education may be key in what promises to be a fiercely competitive job market over the next couple of years.

Career services personnel are also eagerly awaiting response from Lehman, Merrill and AIG as to whether or not they plan on honoring the job offers that they extended to second-year students before the economic downturn. In fact, nobody really knows the impact yet on recruiting for these students, and that could affect the opinions of future students enrolling in the university.

In the meantime, career services personnel are encouraging students to touch as many potential employers as they can this fall, especially if they intend to go into troubled fields like investment banking. Some students may also want to consider jobs in other areas of financial services, such as corporate finance or internal auditing, and consider jobs and smaller boutique investment firms.