Pre-placement offers usher in hope for mid-rung B-schools

Mid-rung B-schools, however, accept that market conditions have been tough, with fears of recruitment freezing

If the way and kind of pre-placement offers (PPOs) which mid-rung B-schools are receiving could be a hint of things to come, the upcoming placement season looks at least as good as last year, if not better. PPOs are offered by firms after students have finished their summer internships at their premises.

Take the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) for instance. As against 55 PPOs last year, the institute has already received 25 offers by now after the students' summer internships. Similarly, the School of Business Management of SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) University feels though the markets have been challenging, placements at NMIMS have begun on a positive note displaying support of the industry. This year the offers so far are 48, even as NMIMS hopes to surpass the last year's figure of 90 soon.

"At JBIMS, at least, we seem to be insulated from the negative market sentiments. Our recruiters seem to be impressed by our student interns at their premises. This is visible in the kind of PPOs which we have been receiving so far. If not better, pre-placement offers should be as good as last year," said the placement committee at JBIMS, adding a batch size of 120 students are eligible for PPOs this year. From among the sectors, the B-school has received PPOs from the likes of FMCG, manufacturing, telecom and banking, among others.

At NMIMS, while companies such as Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan, Microsoft, HCCB, Wipro, Idea Cellular, ICICI Bank, Cognizant Business Consulting, Cummins, Henkel, Starcom Media West, Genpact and Group M, among others have announced full-time offers so far, many more are on the anvil.

"Summer internships are structured at our B-school wherein efforts are to orient students towards their choice of sectors and companies. One hundred and forty firms across sectors had offered internships to students of the Flagship MBA, MBA Banking, MBA Capital Markets & MBA HR programmes. Recruiters have recognised and rewarded our students time and again for the skills, knowledge and leadership quality which the rigorous learning at NMIMS equips them with. The announcement of offers are a testament to the quality of the student pool and the robustness of the curriculum," said Debashis Sanyal, Dean, NMIMS Business School.

However, mid-rung

B-schools do accept that market conditions have been tough, with fears of freezing of recruitment.

"There are several companies who are planning to freeze recruitment. However, it is yet to be seen how much of that would impact placements this year," the placement committee at JBIMS stated.

Similarly, an institute source at the K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR) said, "Companies are thinking twice about recruitment this year. This is due to the current negative economic condition. Though PPOs have started coming in, how much would it be compared to last year is yet to be seen." A batch of 400 students at SIMSR had participated in summer internships.