Newly minted M.B.A.s graduating into a bleak economy are struggling to find work as recruiters cut back their presence on campuses, trim salaries and sharply reduce the number of job offers they are making, students and program administrators said.

Students who filled out school applications in the final months of a boom and started class in the midst of the financial meltdown last autumn are trying to get their footing in a business world that has changed dramatically since they left it.

Many...