Abby Scott is director of MBA Career Services at the Haas School of Business (No. 17 on BusinessWeek's 2004 list of top MBA programs) at the University of California, Berkeley. Before arriving at the university, Scott earned an MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Ill. When she took the Haas post in 2000, she brought with her years of experience in sales and marketing in the technology sector.

Scott says an increasing number of students need customized career services because they want to find jobs in nontraditional fields. The small, intimate classes at Haas allow her staff to respond to such student needs, she adds. Scott recently spoke with BusinessWeek Online reporter Francesca Di Meglio. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation:

Q: What are the most innovative services you offer?
A: During the Career Management Conference in the fall, we take two days off from classes to focus all of our attention on preparing first-year students for the job search. Industry practitioners, alumni, second-year students, career services staff, and some faculty members participate in workshops, résumé parties, strategic-networking preparation sessions, three-on-one mock interviews, and special programs for finding jobs internationally.

Account managers on our staff are responsible for reaching out to industries to promote the Haas program and bring job opportunities to campus. What's unique about our account managers is that they tend to have specific industry experience, which makes them a great resource for students. One of our account managers has nearly 20 years of experience working in finance at a high-tech company, for example.

We also pioneer in providing career services for our part-time students. We allow them to participate in on-campus recruiting during their final year. That has been a popular program this year. But recruiters can decide if they're only interested in full-time students.

Q: How would you characterize the current recruiting season?
A: We had about 35% more interview opportunities on campus this fall than last year. The spring recruiting season will probably be the strongest we've had in five years. Some of the areas where we've seen growth include financial services, investment banking, and consulting. There is also strong demand from the pharmaceutical/biotech industries in San Francisco for our MBA/MPH joint-degree participants.

Q: Are there other hot industries for MBAs now?
A: Private equity is another area where students have quite a bit of interest. Students and alumni organized a conference that attracted over 500 industry professionals and provided the opportunity to network with private-equity insiders. There's also a new private-equity class, thanks to student requests. The school has continued interest and strength in real estate because of a strong department and the Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economies, which attract students and firms. Even through the dot-com explosion, technology also remained a strong area for us.

Q: Which new recruiters came to campus this year?
A: Amazon (AMZN ) delighted us. We've seen quite a few retailers –- Home Depot (HD ), Wal-Mart (WMT ), and Gap (GPS ). Some of the big Wall Street firms returned: Merrill Lynch (MER ), Lehman Brothers (LEH ), and Goldman Sachs (GS ). In addition, we've seen a handful of hedge funds show interest in our students.

Q: Is there any special help for international students?
A: International students make up about 35% of our class. We've put quite a bit of thought into this area. One of the programs we're rolling out is International Students Week, which will include the launch of new online resources, a workshop, and an international student leadership forum.

There is strong interest by many of our international students to find opportunities in their home countries. We are in the process of putting together a strategy to help international students return home. Some American students opt to go abroad as well. There's a new program out of the UK to allow highly skilled internationals to work there for at least a year. Samsung, which offers students posts in Korea, is one of our top hiring firms. There's also interest in opportunities in China from Chinese and other students alike.

Q: How well did the class of 2004 fare in the job hunt?
A: About 65% of our students stay in the Bay Area, which is slowly recovering from the economic downturn of recent years. In 2004, 91% of our students had jobs within three months of graduation. Average starting salaries were up a bit from where they had been the last two years, to about $88,000 and change.

Q: What do you think is the biggest mistake MBAs make when searching for a job?
A: Some MBAs ask for a job too soon. You need to know a lot about the company and make contact with as many people who work there as possible to validate your assumptions about whether you are a good fit. You shouldn't fast-forward to the asking-for-a-job phase.

Q: How do you market your students to recruiters?
A: Recruiters choose to come to Haas because it's a top MBA program and one of the most selective and tight-knit in the country. Every student is expected to take on some sort of leadership role while he or she is here. We get great feedback from recruiters that our students will roll up their sleeves to get a job done. When they see a leadership opportunity, they rise to the occasion.