Selective B-school grads prolong placements

Management institutes extend campus hiring season as students prefer to wait for their dream jobs

Indian Institute of Management-Raipur (IIM-Raipur) has a batch of 48 students, far less than other business-schools. Though most students have recorded placements, the process hasn't been easy - students are extremely selective about the companies they wish to join. This selectivity has led companies away from the campus, despite the fact that they have jobs to offer.

From next year, when IIM-Raipur would increase its batch size, it plans to counsel its students on this aspect. "This year, we were selective in inviting companies, based on our students' expectations. If students are counselled properly, their expectations could be properly channellised to ensure they don't have to wait for long," said Sanjeev Parashar, chairperson (placements) at IIM Raipur. He added with a larger batch, the institute and its students might not have the luxury of being selective.

IIM-Raipur isn't the only institution facing this situation. IIM-Calcutta's director, Shekhar Chaudhuri, said many candidates in the institute rejected offers, as these didn't suit their plans and the fields they wanted to be in. "Many such graduates are ready to wait a bit for the right opportunity," he said.

B-schools have, therefore, extended placement processes.

In four days, Xavier's Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, had recorded placements for 98 per cent of its students, across sectors. An XLRI spokesperson said initially, four students (the two per cent that didn't record placements) were not satisfied with their job offers and, therefore, considered other options. Now, these students were placed abroad.

Last year, 98 per cent of the batch was placed within the first three days. According to XLRI's final placement report, 75 recruiters (73 in 2012) participated this year, with 255 offers to the 240-student batch. Last year, 284 offers were made to a batch of 235 students. This year, the average domestic salary was Rs 16.48 lakh a year.

"Students from premier B-Schools demand high salaries and tend to quit within two years. Hence, this year, we, along with some other private banks, are going slow on recruitment in top B-Schools and increasing presence in others," said a senior human resource official of a private sector bank.

This year, IIM-Ahmedabad, with a batch of about 420 students, saw The Boston Consulting Group emerge the top recruiter across clusters, accounting for 15 students, against 17 last year. Accenture recruited 13, against 14 last year, McKinsey & Company and Capgemini made 10 offers each, while Bain & Company selected nine students.

After quota reservations were introduced in IIMs, these institutes have had to deal with large batches of students.

"Though the recruitment environment has been slow since three years, it is the increased batch size that is the real problem. Otherwise, we would have already placed the students by this time. We are now trying to wrap up the placements, even through video-conferences and Skype," says Khulbhushan Baloni, chairperson (placements) at IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), which has a batch of about 300 students. Unlike last year, the institute is yet to record placements for all its students, despite an extended placement process.

IIM-Indore and Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, are yet to complete their placement processes, too. While IIM-Indore has a batch of about 450, IMT has about 580 students. "We had begun placements in the first week of January. But they are yet to be completed. It was extended this year," said a placement committee member at IIM-Indore.

Other management institutes have seen placement periods being extended 30-40 per cent. Also, with the slowdown in the banking, financial services and insurance sector being more severe than in other sectors, institutes had to get more companies to their campuses this year.

SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, has completed the placements for the post-graduate diploma in management class of 2013. A total of 97 companies participated in the process, against 81 last year. The average salary rose from Rs 15.46 lakh last year to Rs 16.13 lakh. However, pre-placement offers fell from 51.43 per cent of the batch last year to 49 per cent.

Abbas Ali Gabula, deputy director (external relations & administration), SPJIMR, said to compensate for the decline in financial services placements, 33 new companies had been brought to the campus.

Lateral job offers fell from 131 last year to 65 this year.

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai, is also seeing an extended placement process. Debashis Sanyal, dean of the B-School at NMIMS, said while the number of companies visiting the campus had increased, the student intake per company had declined. He added the fast-moving consumer goods, operations and human resource segments had recorded good hiring. This year, 475 students participated in the placement process, compared with 430 last year. Sanyal said the placements would be completed by April.

The human resource head of a mid-sized information technology company said, "Companies, including ours, are going slow on hiring, since projects have declined. Instead of hiring management trainees in large numbers, information technology companies are hiring fewer people."