Business Week has some hopeful tales of sometimes circuitous, though often ultimately successful, career journeys from Haas, Harvard and Stanford MBAs who graduated during the last recession.

To the MBA Class that graduated in 2002, the experience sounds eerily familiar. They were the ones who witnessed firsthand what September 11, Enron, and the dot-com bust did to the job market during their two years in B-school. At some schools, five and six job offers to each student dipped to one offer per three students. Many had to put dreams of switching careers on hold. Others accepted positions that were lower on the corporate ladder than expected. For some it took more than a year to find a job, but they survived to tell the tale.

Can the Class of 2009 learn from the experiences of the class that graduated into the last downturn seven summers ago?

These times are especially trying for career switchers as employers will often prefer candidates with industry experience. Most of the students interviewed did manage to achieve their career goals but not straight out of school.

“If you can see a position as a stepping stone to where you eventually want to get to, take it,” advises Amy Brooks, Stanford ’02 who joined Bain & Co on graduating before ultimately breaking into the sports industry – her original post-MBA goal.

Key take-aways seem to be the importance of relentless focus, and an openness to a meandering route. The students in the article ended up at companies including Google (via News Corp), GE, Nokia (via China) and Siebel, NBA (via Bain).

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