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Offers for senior positions take longer since companies spend more time screening the 1-year executive management programme students.
Hundreds of executives who are doing their one-year executive management programmes from prominent B-schools like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian School of Business (ISB) have cause to cheer.
Due to the economic slowdown, there was some apprehension over placements this year but recruiters have started visiting the campuses two months before the final placement seasons begins.
Consider this. The first batch (2010) of the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (ePGP) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) expects 50-60 companies to come to the campus over the next two months.
Companies started coming into the campus from middle of November itself and close to 25 per cent of the batch has received offers. The institute has 70 students to place from this batch. The institute holds 15-20 offers from companies in IT, healthcare, finance and retail space where roles in mid-senior positions have been offered.
"Unlike the two-year Post Graduate Programme (PGP) where recruiters hire within the placement week, placements for executive management participants are a longer process. Companies like to spend more time with the participants since offers made are for senior managerial positions," explains Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM-B.
The average work experience of participants from the one-year executive management programme is usually upwards of 5-7 years. Placement season is a rolling process and goes on from January to end of February or beginning of March. Last year, average salaries had dipped marginally across the campuses owing to the financial meltdown and institutes had invited more companies to ensure that their students got placed. Even this year, institutes plan to invite more number of companies just to be on the safer side.
"Definitely we have sent out more invitations this year as we expand our base every year. Officially, placements are likely to begin in mid-January in 2010," says Shailesh Gandhi, chairperson, Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) at IIM-A.
Even on their international immersion programme where participants spend a few weeks in foreign countries, PGPX students are also leaving no stone unturned in making the placements successful. "Amidst their programme, students are making contacts, meeting people and inviting companies to the campus for upcoming placements," adds Gandhi.
Similarly, at the Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, there is a sense of optimism in placement this year. "The placement process is just starting at the ISB, with many companies coming over for pre-placement talks. The indications are that the requirement for talent this year will be significantly higher than last year," says V K Menon, Senior Director , Admissions and Financial Aid & Career Advancement Services at ISB.
"We can see requirement for talent across sectors. It is not restricted to some specific industries. Almost all the classical hirers of management graduates are recruiting. This means that we will see increased recruitment in areas like consulting, finance, marketing, technology etc. Also some sectors like healthcare, telecom etc will be large recruiters," says Menon. Last year, ISB had 326 companies in the campus where the average domestic CTC was a little over Rs 15 lakh.
IIM-C is yet to formally begin inviting firms to its campus for its Post Graduate Programme for Executives (PGPEX). Nevertheless, the institute is quite upbeat about the placement scenario for this year. "Our assessment is that we should be able to place all our students. Moreover, the average salary offered by firms will be a little higher than last year," says Mrityunjay Mohanty, convenor of PGPEX placements sub-committee. Last year 30-odd firms offered jobs to 37 students at IIM-C.
While around 80 students will be participating in the placements from the PGPX batch this year at IIM-A, 51 students from the PGPEX batch will be sitting from IIM-C. At IIM-A, last year, 70 students opted for placements, while four students of the class decided to start their own venture in fields such as manufacturing, services and clean energy. The average salary offered at campus was Rs 20.16 lakh.
A total of 34 students out of a batch of 37 students participated in placements last year from IIM-C.The second batch of PGPEX at IIM-C saw the highest salary touch a figure of Rs 35 lakh per annum while average salary hovered around Rs 18 lakh.
