Placements 2009: Some Trends, Some Predictions

Dream Merchants are back at campuses - the big four of consulting and elite recruiters from investment banking are scouting for talent. The financial power houses also featured at campuses with magical crore plus salaries.

It's the stuff that campus folklores are made of, it's the stories that fire your imagination to enter the top B Schools of the country. The difference being that this time around such mind blowing offers are far and few.

Amidst India story, the economy growing at 7.5% and the word about recession being over, the reality is much different. Corporate India is still apprehensive and cautious. While some of the biggies of corporate world known for their hara kiri at campuses with ego boosting packages on offer are coming back to campuses but the number of such offers are limited.

FMCG companies which were losing ground to top financial giants will be making strong reappearance. A lot of New Age companies from dot com, real estate, insurance, travel business and broking will also get a dekho at top talent. PSUs will play an important part in recruitment at top campuses and would be hiring in large numbers. Don't be surprised if you find some of the lesser known companies from recruitment and staffing solutions or dot com space finding their way into the IIMs or ISB.

Placement 2010 has thrown new challenges where placement days have been extended to weeks and months unlike previous years when placement story was reduced to hours. And mind you thats not the story of tier 2 institutes only. It has also forced the entire placement team and faculty members to use up all their resources & contacts to ensure 100% placements. Multiple offers are definitely not in vogue this year.

What has changed, well the story of aggressive multi fold growth and scale up has definitely moved to more prudent and cautious approach. Companies are looking at growth very differently and every cost item is under scanner. The lessons learned in down turn have made every recruiter look at manpower cost differently. Recruiters are looking at lateral hires more keenly as they bring experience and knowledge and can take off from day one. Even the students have become more selective - Factors like stability of the organisation and how they behaved in tough times will be important determinants while making their choices.

Will this also change the way top B schools look at admitting students? Will the times to come see a shift towards experienced candidates. At some of the IIMs the graph is already moved in favour of experienced hires and they go well with recruiters too. Will other institutes follow suit of top International B schools practice of admitting experienced candidates.

The challenges posed by placement 2010 will also act as catalyst in bring out the entrepreneurial zeal amongst many. More so because today money is available for early stage funding and venture capitalists and angel investors are keen. B schools have also created incubation center for entrepreneurship development which will facilitate the zeal. Considering India is prepared for next phase of growth and opportunities are opening up in various sectors, its not a bad option either.

To Sum up CA feels that Placement 2010 will be a mixed bag. A year which will witness New age companies, off beat ventures getting a look at top talent. Multiple offers and Crore plus salaries will be limited in number. Organisations providing good work experience platform and stability will attract better talent. Even the campuses will have to learn from the signals offered by the downturn and this might pave the way for changes in the way they admit students.

Will entrepreneurship get its due share in times to come is something to watch out for...

Concluded.