The placement process at XLRI completed on 11-12th Feb. The process was slated for February 9-11 at the XLRI campus but it was conducted at The Hyatt Regency, Kolkata.

The Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) called a 48-hour statewide bandh on February 9 and 10. This posed an inconvenience to recruiters who usually come down to campus for CRP, so XLRI decided to shift the entire placement procedure to Kolkata instead. Though this involved immense extra cost and Herculean logistics effort for the students as well as the organising committee, it was felt that the recruiters' well being came first and so also the recruitment of students passing out.

With the economy recovering from the downturn, XLRI has fabulous results to report. Day Zero, that is 9th February, saw a phenomenal 93 students being placed which is almost 75% of the batch size. The biggest offer this year was undoubtedly the Rs.14 lakh package of McKinsey & Co. Other big recruiters were Bank of America, Standard Chartered, ITC, HLL, Hewitt, Accenture etc.

The FMCG sector was the largest recruiting sector picking up 30 students. The largest was ITC's lateral offer, but this was closely followed by HLL, Coke, Pepsi, Marico, Reckitt & Benckiser, Colgate Palmolive and Heinz.

Banks, always a favourite, picked up 17 candidates. Bank of America had one of the best salaries going with Rs. 9 lakhs on offer and Standard Chartered Bank was a close second. ABN Amro, ICICI Bank, UTI Bank, Citibank and IndusInd Bank were some of the other recruiting banks.

Consultants, a constant dream for managers today as it gives them an opportunity to explore and use their knowledge of cross-functional expertise, have accounted for 10 Xlers. McKinsey & Co. who conducted its process a few weeks back in Mumbai recruited one student after a hiatus of 2 years and their offer was the best. Hewitt, the specialized HR consultants, was another big recruiter as were Accenture, and PriceWaterhouse Cooper.

This year also saw a lot of action in the IT sector with 27 students being taken up by technology majors. Infosys was the largest recruiter bagging 7 students, closely followed by Wipro, HCL Tech, ITC Infotech, Patni, CTS, and Polaris. Finance Companies such as SBI Caps, Security Trading Corp. Ltd., GE SBI and GE Caps also hired extensively.

Diversified conglomerates and core sector companies like Murugappa, Hero Honda, TELCO, Larsen & Toubro made their presence felt. Export companies, pharma companies, the BPO industry and Telecomm accounted for the rest.

A lot of companies nowadays favour the use of Assessment Centres as media for judging the suitability of candidates. Accenture, Colgate Palmolive, Citibank, Hewitt and ICICI Bank used this pre-process technique to evaluate the candidate's competencies.

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), one of the oldest B-schools in India was founded by Father Enright in 1949. Set amidst a sprawling campus away from the bustle of the city, XLRI curriculum reflects and responds to the changing needs of the modern business and industry. Over the years, it has helped in laying the foundation for change and opportunity, while forging new paradigms in education. Its alumni are the living proof of the quality, which XLRI, Jamshedpur delivers to the corporate world.

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