Graduating students who left secure, full-time jobs to enter business school in 2007 are finding the recruiting season even worse than they anticipated. Far fewer companies are coming to campus and those who do show up have few, if any, jobs to offer.

Career officials say this is the worst recruiting season they remember. In a survey by the MBA Career Services Council, an association of business-school career offices, 56% of business schools reported a significant decrease in recruiting this winter. Job-posting activity, usually...