Good times are back: Job offers flood IIMs

Good times are back: Job offers flood IIMs
BANGALORE: The green shoots are springing up and they're becoming visible at the Indian Institutes of Management, bringing some hope that the economy is looking up.

Pre-placement offers (job offers which come to students before the final placements) have begun to pour in for the graduating class of 2010. The IIMs are seeing a positive response from all sectors.

At IIM-Bangalore, consulting firms, which participated in the summer placement last year have announced their PPO results and all students received PPOs. "IIM-Bangalore is the only IIM with a 100% success rate till now. While this speak highly about the institution as a brand, credit must be given to students and their calibre too. The success rate is actually better than last year's," Vineet Sharma, placement representative, IIM-B, told TOI.

Last year, 12 consulting firms participated in these process. Some of the firms were McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co. Also, consulting majors Alvarez & Marsal and Result recruited students for the first time.

This year, the positions offered vary a fair bit. "But, it's on a par with an entry-level MBA position across the world," Sharma said. Last year, 120 companies confirmed their participation for the 270 students.

During last year's summer placements at IIMB, overall 24% of the batch accepted a position in a consulting career, known for its demand for multi-functional skills and cutting across finance, strategy and marketing. Other sectors which saw a significant number of offers included finance (21%), investment banking (20%), marketing (13%) and general management (13%). Consulting firms like McKinsey & Co., Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Co. recruited the highest number of interns from IIM-B. Interestingly, students have also bagged 2-3 international offers.
IIM-Calcutta students too are happy as they've got offers from across sectors, including FMCGs. Though IIM-C refused to give the number of offers made, it said the offers are a positive sign for students, especially during this recession. Students here bagged offers from the finance sectors and international ones.

The IIM-C didn't rule out the possibility of more than 10 overseas offers. Paul Savio, external relations secretary, IIM-C told TOI that some banks have put off the PPOs till September. "Earlier, we'd get the offers during May-June from some firms. One reason could be that banks want to see if the markets are doing better and hire people, if required. However, we're only some of the few lucky IIMs to get offers from the finance sector," he added.

Indian Institute of Management-Indore (IIM-I) started to receive PPOs from mid-June. With 240 students in the 2008-10 class, PPOs are more from for the marketing and finance sectors. "We're constantly in touch with firms and received a positive response," sources at placement committee, IIM-I said. He said PPOs would pick up later this year. "However, it's better compared to last year's," he added.

Shruthi Balakrishna, TNN 17 July 2009, 04:46am IST
Source: The Times Of India.