Lateral placement gets its due at business schools

A common consensus among B-schools that the placements this year maybe nearing the 2007-08 levels is hard to dispute.

Sample this: if you were a B-school graduate you could well land a job as a brand manager as against the conventional sales and marketing profile.

B-schools that have had their lateral placement already, bet on a revived final placements season that will commence in January 2011 in most campuses. After and amid a buoyant lateral placements, management institutes expect a 10-15 per cent rise in compensation packages being offered by companies this year. This, when the lateral placements are held for students with an average experience of 22 months while final placements are mostly for freshers.

A case in point is IMT Ghaziabad, where a batch of 418 has about 60 per cent of students appearing for lateral placements. “A hike in compensation packages, nevertheless true, may not be as homogenous. But where the upswing is being seen is in companies’ offers. As far as IMT is concerned, profiles being offered to students this year have been a revelation. As against last year where a student would be picked up by an investment bank for at the most relationship banking or retail banking jobs, this year the profiles range from investment banking to equity research,” says Prakash Pathak, chairperson - placement, IMT Ghaziabad.

Seconding his views is Sabita Mohanty, chairperson - placement at Xavier’s Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB). “Even if compensations may have been more or less same, the profiles being offered have enhanced and there seems to be a focused hiring from the firms’ side. However, we do expect compensation packages to rise by 10-12 per cent,” she says.

So far the companies who have confirmed their participation in final placements at XIMB, that begins from January 10, 2011 onwards, have been Godrej, Marico, Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys and JP Morgan.

“Most of the firms and sectors who spearheaded placements during 2007-08 are coming back to campuses with fresh vigour. Financial services, IT and consulting have increased their hiring. Moreover, the lateral placements this year saw an average compensation of Rs 7.3 lakh as against Rs 6.6 lakh last year,” says ND Sharma, chairperson - placement, KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR). With a 297-strong batch, the institute, which has seen over 70 firms confirming their participation out of the 100-odd invited, has placed 156 students during lateral placements. more, SIMSR saw the highest package at Rs 11.6 lakh so far.