Slowdown to affect placements at ISB

The simultaneous slowdown in the US and Asian economies is going to affect the placements at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Information technology and information technology-enabled services (IT, ITES) firms, finance and real estate companies are especially not expected to recruit large numbers this year.

These sectors combined made 280 job offers out of the total 657 made for the Class of 2008, which had 421 students. The Class of 2009 has 440 students.

ISB dean M Rammohan Rao said: “We do not expect the companies to recruit in large numbers, as they did last year. But that will not mean that the students will go job-less. We are inviting more companies to the campus this year for campus recruitment.”

The institute is asking its students to set realistic salary targets. Last year, 230 companies participated in the placement drive. The average cost-to company (CTC) package for an international offer stood at $ 144,812. For a domestic offer, it was Rs 19 lakh per annum. The financial sector made 95 offers last year, IT and ITeS sectors made 148 offers and real estate made 37 offers.

The dean added these sectors are in turmoil now and this year might see a spurt in offers from telecom, pharma and health sector companies, which are growing at a healthy rate. Airtel, the largest private cellular operator, has assured a campus visit during the placement season. “It is not just Airtel, but other cellular operators will also visit the campus,” Rao said at a strategic seminar held last week.

The IT and telecom sectors have been losing their position to other sectors in the last three years. For instance, if 56 per cent of the total offers made to Class of 2006 were from IT and telecom companies, it was 50 per cent for Class of 2007 and dropped to 36 per cent for Class of 2008. The trend is same with financial services. The number of offers from the sector fell to 14 per cent of the total offers made for the Class of 2008 from 17 per cent for Class of 2007. Both sectors peaked respectively for the Class of 2004.

Companies from real estate, which boomed through the years 2006-07, made six per cent of the total offers for the Class of 2007 and six per cent for Class of 2008. During the last placement season, 50 per cent of the students changed both function and the industry, 21 per cent changed the function and 10 per cent moved to the new industry. This year, there could be a shift in industry segment.

Though ISB has been promoting entrepreneurship, this year it further decided to place some students of Class 2009 in the start-up companies set up by the ISB alumni. “It would be easy for the start-ups to find people who would align with their thinking and business vision. Also, the students, apart from finding a job for themselves, would have the opportunity to learn from their peers,” said deputy dean Ajit Rangnekar.