(FORTUNE Magazine) – With hiring budgets slashed at traditional safe havens like consulting and finance, what's an MBA to do?

Try supply chain management. Yes, you heard us: the heretofore unglamorous job of overseeing the movement of goods from the customer's order through to production, storage, and distribution. Good supply chain managers often make the difference between happy customers and irate ones. And in today's cost-conscious times, they're more valuable than ever. "Firms are under tremendous pressure to cut costs," says Jack Nevin, executive director of the Grainger Center for Supply Chain Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. "And most of those costs are just sitting there in the supply chain."

Business schools that have supply chain management programs--Wisconsin, Michigan State, Arizona State, and Penn State, to name a few--are seeing student interest skyrocket. At ASU, one-third of the class of 2003 specializes in supply chain management, up from 9% in 1995. And average salaries for supply chain grads at ASU increased 25% over the past five years; at MSU they're up almost 50% since 1995. While the clunky economy has put hiring plans on hold at many companies, supply chain opportunities still exist. "Supply chain is the most recession-proof of the majors here," says Robert Nason, chair of MSU's Marketing and Supply Chain Management department.

That said, don't expect to sleep through class and get a plum job. David Wieber, a senior materials manager at Cisco, says competition is fierce and snagging the right internship is critical. Top recruiters include IBM, Ford, and Solectron, but an ASU rep says the school has even gotten inquiries from E. & J. Gallo Winery. Now there's a supply chain worth diving into.

--Matthew Boyle