For EA, the need for top MBA graduates is fuelled by the company's changing role from a packaged goods company to a digital company, says Jessica Rawson, who is in charge of university relations. "What is driving us is what our customers are doing".

The focus now is on graduates who are skilled in analytics. "It's being able to take the numbers and create a story and communicate that story," says Ms Rawson. The games companies are not alone in valuing the combination of analytics and communications, says Julie Morton, associate dean for career services at Chicago Booth and one of the schools where EA recruits. "I think of it as critical thinking rather than numbers per se."

As jobs on Wall Street wane, the most numerate MBA graduates are finding a welcome home in companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Yahoo, groups for which data analytics are critical.

Such is the case at Wall Street specialist Columbia Business School in New York, says Gina Resnick, associate dean and managing director of Columbia's career management centre. "What's been exciting has been the changing opportunities and the technology renaissance in New York City."

Although the final statistics for 2012 have not yet been compiled, MBA recruitment in the US appears to be closely tracking that of 2011. "It is certainly not down, not at all," says Regina Regazzi, executive director for corporate relations with UCLA Anderson. At Harvard Business School, where MBA students graduate this week, Jana Kierstead, executive director of the MBA programme, is even more positive. "Optimism is in the air. Students are really willing to wait [for the right job] and are determined to pursue their vision." Salaries have also rebounded. At Harvard, the bellwether for MBA pay, the median for the class of 2012 is expected to be $125,000, up from $120,000.

But in Europe, the euro crisis and economic austerity has resulted in recruiter caution, says Fiona Sandford, director for career services at London Business School.

In London, as in New York, the "bulge banks" have reduced the number of MBAs they hire this year, but asset management firms continue to recruit, says Ms Sandford. The students who are finding it hardest to secure jobs are those who want to change sectors, she says.

A decade ago a third of all graduates from top schools went into finance – largely investment banking – with a further third going into consultancy. But these days up to 50 per cent of graduates find their first job in other sectors – consumer goods, pharmaceutical, media, technology and industrial companies, as well as NGOs and charities. Social media strategists are also in demand across all sectors, says Kevin Frey, who runs the full-time MBA at Rotman in Toronto.

Recruitment methods are also changing. EA is typical in that it is taking several routes to hiring students: as well as on-campus recruiting, it is posting job adverts for specific roles. Increasingly, company hiring patterns reflect company culture, says Ms Morton, citing Zynga, where students interview via videoconferencing on Skype. "That's very much the norm now," she says.

Students are behaving differently too. Even at Harvard, the master of on-campus recruiting, almost 50 per cent of students now find a job via a different route. And they are looking to small companies for employment. "We're seeing students looking at more customised, smaller shops, so they can see their impact early on," according to Ms Kierstead.

Meanwhile more students are finding jobs outside their country of study. Harvard, for example, reports that a growing number of its US graduates are taking jobs outside the US.

EA, which has studios in the UK, China and North America, is looking to recruit in Europe and Asia. The company has one obvious attraction, says Ms Rawson.

"People have grown up playing these games . . . It's a really cool way to come into analytics."