Bangalore/Kolkata: Rajant Meshran, a second-year student of the flagship post graduate programme in management at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), is sanguine about his job prospects as the global economy fights its way out of recession.
Open invitation: A file photo of IIM-B. IIMs have been sending out invitations to firms to visit their campuses. November will see potential recruiters making presentations on campus, with final placements due in March. Hemant Mishra/Mint
Meshran, 22, doesn’t yet know what his dream job is, but is confident that the placement team at IIM-B will find him something that satisfies him.
“The markets have improved (from last year)...the placement team is working very hard,” says Meshran, who will be up for a job placement in March.
Meshran expects the next placements season to be at least better than it was for the class of 2009, which became a casualty of the unprecedented financial maelstrom that shook economies across the globe, including India.
Recruiters from Wall Street, the epicentre of the crisis that peaked with the mid-September 2008 collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the hurried sale of Merrill Lynch and Co. to Bank of America Corp., stayed away from on-campus interviews at Indian B-schools and several local companies froze hiring.
Average salaries at the prestigious IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) fell 30% and 20%, respectively, for domestic jobs; placements that used to conclude in two-three days dragged on for at least 9-10 days on several campuses.
As the intensity of the global economic crisis abates and world markets recover, students such as Meshran may have reason to be complacent. Foreign institutional investors had poured $11.2 billion (Rs53,760 crore) into Indian stock markets as of last Friday this year, and companies are again tapping the capital markets for funds, signalling a revival in investment banking activity.
Despite the financial crisis, international banks such as the Indian arm of Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc visited IIM campuses in the last recruitment season, and they are expected this time round as well.
Still, B-schools aren’t leaving anything to chance. Schools are reaching out to more recruiters, be they not-for-profit organizations, small and medium enterprises and even the United Nations (UN).
“We have to reach out to all companies,” says P.D. Jose, an associate professor and head of the career development services at IIM-B. “Most companies will come because they want to maintain a relationship with us.”
Jose thinks that much like in 2009, companies will recruit fewer numbers in the next placement season. The school, which says it keeps enlarging its company base, has reached out to at least 800 companies, up from 700 last time.