Top recruiters turn to non-IIM B-schools

Top recruiters turn to non-IIM B-schools for middle-management roles

Even as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) continue to supply with high-cost graduates meant for leadership roles, top recruiters this year turned further towards other B-schools for middle management roles.

Recruitments at non-IIM B-schools, both top and mid rung, grew on the back of marquee firms from leading sectors such as consulting, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and information technology (IT) hiring in substantial numbers, thereby ending the placement year on a high note. While the hype over e-commerce seemed to be settling down, consulting, IT and BFSI consolidated their positions this year during placements at B-schools

At International Management Institute, New Delhi (IMI-New Delhi) consulting firms are hiring in large numbers according  to Pinaki Dasgupta, professor (marketing) and dean, corporate relations and placements. He  said there had been an increase in the number of firms visiting the campus from the traditional sectors.

During placements for the batch that passed out in 2016, IMI completed its placement in only three days. There was a 33 per cent increase in firms from the manufacturing sector that recruited from IMI this year. New firms this year included General Motors, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp.

Xavier’s Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), saw top consulting, BFSI and IT recruiters such as PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, Cognizant Business Consulting, HDFC Bank, SBI, Tata Capital, HP, Accenture, Infosys, Wipro and Capgemini recruiting in decent numbers. “Some of the sectors like consulting hired in more numbers than last year. Overall, the placement year has been better for us compared to last year,” said Saveeta Mohanty, faculty coordinator, placements, at XIMB.

According to hiring analysts, the increased presence of recruiters in top and mid rung B-school campuses was partly influenced by the trend of hiring costs amidst tightening profitability.

“There are companies that are going to other institutes for more affordable talent. Companies are turning towards lower hiring costs. They now have clear percentage of hiring they want from top B-schools and mid and low run B-schools,” said Nikunj Verma, CEO, CutShort, a recruitment platform.

At MDI Gurgaon placement coordinators said there had been a large number of consulting firms hiring in big numbers and they expected it to continue in the final placement season as well, which will begin in the next few months.

For the batch of 2014-16, MDI Gurgaon completed its final placements in 3.5 days. There was a substantial increase of 35 per cent in the number of companies confirming participation for the final placement process. The placement season saw overwhelming demand in consulting, general management, finance, strategy, sales and marketing, operations, and information management.

A senior placement official with a Mumbai-based business school said e-commerce companies would face muted response, though they would continue to have these companies on campus. Traditional companies will be favoured for day one slots.

The overall number of new recruiters is also going up. NMIMS Mumbai had 160 companies, including 45 new recruiters participating, against 122 companies in the previous season.

Non-IIM business schools are also seeing the entire batch being placed much quicker than the IIMs. A placement official of a mid-size business school said while IIMs were taking up to a week to complete the process, the smaller schools were able to complete it in under four days.

LOOK, WE'RE HIRING

• Recruitments at non-IIM B-schools - both top- and mid-rung - grew on the back of marquee firms from leading sectors like consulting, BFSI (banking, financial services & insurance) and IT (information technology) hiring in substantial numbers, thereby ending the placement year on a high note
• Increased presence of recruiters in top- and mid-rung B-school campuses partly influenced by hiring costs amid tightening profitability