With recruiters predicting that UK entry-level jobs in investment banking will fall by 417 jobs, or 28 per cent, this year, even top students are having to look harder and take less glamourous jobs that they might have spurned only 18 months ago.

Those committed to a banking career are filing more applications, and graduates who might once have insisted on full-fledged analyst jobs are accepting internships in the hope of getting their foot on the ladder, recruiters and university career counsellors say. Students are also looking wider, at insurance companies, retail banks and back office areas such as risk and compliance.

"Students that are very keen to join are looking at any opportunity. They are not just focusing on front office," says Ella Wilkinson, JPMorgan graduate recruitment manager. "Students that want to do this are really driven. If they can't get a graduate job, they'll do an internship. They want to see history being made."