Startups, new-age tech firms flock to mid-rung B-schools for recruitment

Traditional manufacturing firms stay away, mainly because of the ongoing slowdown

At a time when core and general management sectors, including automobile and manufacturing have given it a miss, start-ups and new-age tech firms have flocked to recruit students from mid-rung B-schools.

Start-ups lapped up the maximum number of students, followed by IT, consulting, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Among start-ups, edutech, fintech and other new-age tech firms are recruiting in decent numbers from mid-rung and emerging management campuses this year.

For instance, Coimbatore-based PSG Institute of Management has seen 22 more job offers this year compared to last year, largely led by non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and start-ups.

“While the automobile sector and a few IT companies skipped placements, NBFC hiring saw a traction,” said an institute spokesperson. 

“We also saw a larger number of start-ups showing interest in hiring this year,” he added.

A few e-commerce start-ups participated in hiring for the first time, offering digital marketing and business development profiles.

The average salary package at Rs 6.5 lakh continued to be the same as last year for the Tamil Nadu institute.

Similarly, led by the likes of Byju’s, edtech and fintech start-ups also hired in decent numbers from Ahmedabad-based St Kabir Institute of Professional Studies (SKIPS). The institutes also saw new companies visiting the campus this year.

Leading from the front in recruitment

• Start-ups have hired the maximum number of students, followed by IT, consulting, banking, BFSI and FMCG this year

• Among start-ups, edutech, fintech and other new-age tech firms are recruiting in decent numbers

• According to experts, the shift in hiring trends could also be attributed to the hanging skill needs among recruiters

• New-age skills like AI, machine learning, data science, Internet of Things and blockchain are getting preference

“Overall, FMCG, BFSI and start-ups have led the placements at our campus. Despite the overall economic scenario not being good, our performance in placements has improved over the last year or so. Even our average salary packages have also gone up by over 20 per cent to stand at roughly Rs 4.5 lakh,” Gurpreet Singh Arora, dean at SKIPS, told Business Standard.

Owing to more hiring from other emerging sectors, the placement season at SKIPs was better than last year even as the B-school completed the process by mid-February by placing all the 120 in the batch, unlike in previous years.

At other leading non-IIM B-schools like Noida-based Bimtech, it was BFSI that led recruitment instead of core manufacturing or automobile sector with 28 per cent of the 369 students being placed with firms from the sector, followed by IT/ITeS at 17 per cent and insurance sector at 16 per cent.

“Understandably, auto and other core manufacturing sectors have reduced their hiring. But it has not impacted placements since the same has been compensated by other sectors. At Bimtech, the other sectors from where companies participated included retail, consulting, edtech and market research, along with manufacturing,” said Harivansh Chaturvedi, director of the B-school.

Compensation packages at Bimtech included the highest domestic salary of Rs 18 lakh per annum and highest international salary of Rs 23 lakh per annum. The average salary package was Rs 8.16 lakh per annum.

According to recruitment experts, the shift in hiring trends at campuses could also be attributed to the changing skill needs among recruiters.

“New-age skills like artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, Internet of Things and blockchain are getting preference. These are signs as to how these technologies are going to transform the way business will be run in the near future. Candidates will have to master the broad spectrum skills outside their specialisation,” said Prasad Rajappan, founder and managing director of ZingHR.