The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have decided to enhance the pool of recruiters to hedge the risks from the worsening global economic situation.
While some of the IIMs have increased the batch size, which called for more number of recruiters, others have a diversified set of students who have different preferences due to which the prestigious institutes have approached more number of companies for the summer internship process in November.
IIM-Calcutta, one of the oldest IIMs, though is concerned with the macroeconomic environment, is hedging on public sector units with whom it has a long-term view for a corporate relationship.
?The internship is an eight-week training and the response from companies is no reason for alarm. The macroeconomic indicators are worrisome and students are always apprehensive till they have a job in hand,? said professor Amit Dhiman, placements chairman at IIM-C.
IIM-Ahmedabad is still waiting for the placement season to begin but maintains that it has approached new companies to recruit from campus and contacting firms who have previously not recruited from IIM-A.
?We usually have 120-130 companies participating in the summer placement process. The number of companies we interact with before the process is larger than this. Our batch size is increasing ? the current PGP batch has 380 students ? as such, we will have more companies visit our campus. Also, there are companies from new areas and verticals that are keen on hiring MBA students that come in every year,? corroboarted Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM-Bangalore.
At IIM-Indore, more than 150 firms have been approached for the summer internship process and the institute is looking at over 25% increase in the pool of new recruiters.
As per the media committee of the institute, the number of new recruiters approached is larger but that is largely due to the increased batch size.
IIM-Kozhikode has observed 2% of the companies being uncertain of recruitment activities as a result of the economic environment.
?Even in companies that have expressed concern, it is primarily due to internal re-organisation of the functions as a response to the changing economic scenario. However, such companies continue to be involved in live projects and other such activities,? said a student from the institute?s placement team.
Same is the case with the new IIM at Rohtak which has touched base with 108 companies to introduce the institute to the respective organisations and also initiate a long-term relationship with them.
?We have contacted more companies this year as compared to last year since our batch size has expanded from 48 to 124 students,? explained Pritam Agrawal, member of the public relations cell at the new IIM in Rohtak.
Students? fears may also get reflected in the type of profiles they expect from the placement process. More a function of the growing diversity of student profiles on campus than the economic scenario, newer profiles are expected to be up for grabs this time at IIM-Lucknow with a greater representation of chartered accountants, doctors, lawyers in addition to engineering and commerce graduates. Hence, the institutes expect more roles in sales and marketing, finance, operations, IT, health management and human relations to open up.
IIM-L is also expecting a turnout of more than 150 recruiters for the summer process compared with the placements for the 2012 batch where 163 firms recruited from the institute with a total of 456 offers being made to a batch of 414.
?It is our constant endeavor to increase corporate presence on campus for which we are also approaching new recruiters. The overall response has been positive, especially considering the current macroeconomic scenario. The companies have actually shown more interest in our campus,? said a student from the recruitment cell of IIM-L.
Both finance and marketing are the two most preferred verticals for summers and that trend is likely to continue at IIM-I.
Once the first-year students get selected for summer internships, the final placements for the second year students will begin in 4-5 months.
?We are cautious and concerned and have our fingers crossed for the final placements which may not reflect the slowdown,? Dhiman concluded.
