Mar. 29--BLACKSBURG -- During her senior year in business school at Virginia Tech, Bonnie Nicholls looked for a salaried, management-development track job as an event planner to start off her career.

But after promising interviews, her search fell short as potential employers pulled back in uncertainty about the recession.

She finally found work at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. A marketing major with minors in global business and business leadership, she will answer telephones and handle other front desk duties.

The pay?

"Not a lot," said the 22-year-old from Richmond. But she'll have a heel in the door of a major lodging chain.

Confident she'll earn a promotion as the economy rebounds, she is among the soon-to-be-employed spring graduates of the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, one of the largest business schools in the region with about 4,300 students at the Blacksburg campus.

With lowered expectations but no less determination, business majors hunt for jobs in a shell-shocked economy.

Academic leaders say there are still openings for business majors in the business world. Still, with half a million layoffs a month, the recession's a drag for graduates.

"The students now in B-school applied at a time when it looked like school was a sure thing: an entry to a better life," Robert Bruner, dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, wrote on his blog.

"Then came the crunch. Money for student loans became scarce. Job prospects declined. Companies scaled back their recruiting."

On a happier note, Bruner said, salaries are holding steady for those working. He urged MBA candidates to stay in school and finish their degrees.

It's advice that probably applies to many undergraduates as well.

"When the recovery comes, it will create a huge vacuum for talent that will draw upward those who have good professional training," his column said. "You must look across the chasm toward the recovery."

This spring's graduating seniors are well along in their job searches and about to enter the market -- employed or not.

Career counselors say investment banking openings are slim to nonexistent, but that accounting and insurance firms are hiring.

Here's a list of companies in consulting and business services and the number of 2007-08 VT grads hired: Accenture (22), International Business Machines (20), Deloitte (17), Freddie Mac (13), BearingPoint (13), Booz Allen Hamilton (11), KPMG (10), Wachovia (10), SAIC (9) and Navigant Consulting (7) and BB&T, Ernst & Young and Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (6). Freddie Mac and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office each hired 13.