IIM A placements finally end, average salary down 31 pc

In the midst of a sombre economy, the longest ever placements at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad ended on March 5 with a modest note. While the campus saw participation by 19 more firms over last year, there was considerably lower participation by Finance recruiters. The largest recruiter was from the public sector.

The placement process saw participation from 109 firms across sectors, out of which 95 firms recruited in the final placements process. The placement process this year was conducted over a nine day period from February 25 to March 05, 2009, the longest ever since the MBA job boom.

The average domestic salary was reported as Rs 12.17 lakh, a 31 percent reduction over last year’s Rs 17.85.

Despite the diminutive effects of the economic crisis on the placements, one could see the effort to sound upbeat in IIMA’s placement report.

According to the institute’s press statement, “Approximately 34 pc of the batch was placed in the slot 0 firms that include international banks and consulting firms. There were several offers in this slot of more than Rs. 1 crore.” The statement was quick to add that the crore figures were international salaries converted to Indian rupees using the current exchange rate.

According to a student at the institute, “The crore salaries have been offered mostly by investment banks as pre-placement offers for international locations spread across the USA, Europe, the Middle East and South-east Asia.”

It might be interesting to note that by current exchange rates, a salary of Rs 1 crore would translate to an in-hand salary of about US$ 200,000 in the USA, including bonuses and variable components that may or may not reach the employee. For a taxpaying person earning that much in the US, the in-hand component translates to a standard of living that is approximately equivalent to earning Rs 20-25 lakh in-hand annually in India.

This year, the largest recruiter at IIM Ahmedabad was a Public Sector Unit bank. At 18 offers, Union Bank of India scooped the highest number of IIMA graduates. According to the institute, the offers have been for senior positions.

“Twelve students were recruited by Jaypee Capital, a first time recruiter on campus – for managing their operations in financial and capital markets – roles that are similar to those offered by international banks,” said the statement.

Other prominent recruiters at the campus included Bain and Company (8 final acceptances), McKinsey and Co (8 final acceptances), Boston Consulting Group (7 final acceptances), Tata Administrative Services (7 final acceptances) and first time recruiters Frost and Sullivan (5 final acceptances). The process also saw participation from Unicon Securities, which made 12 offers, global network giant Alcatel-Lucent which made 5 offers and offers from a range of firms returning to campus such as Indian Oil, Bank of Baroda, SEBI, Bharat Petroleum and others.

Despite the global financial crisis, finance saw the highest percentage of acceptances at 39 pc. However, the number is considerably down from the last two years when practically half the batch had joined the Finance sector.

At 24 pc, consulting saw the second highest acceptance. As much 63 pc of the batch therefore opted for finance and consulting jobs, as opposed to 76 pc in the last two years each.

About 13 pc of the batch accepted Marketing profiles.

While there were lower number of offers from international banks, Indian companies such as Tata Administrative Services and Aditya Birla Group alongwith Procter and Gamble offered international locations.

“Another factor that affected the duration of placements was that very senior executives participated in the placement process. The average indicative salary for domestic offers was Rs 12.17 lakhs while that of international offers was US$ 83,000 (exclusive of bonus),” said the statement.

As many as seven students opted out of the placements to start their own ventures this year.

The institute clarified that despite the pressures of the downturn, no student was forced to take up a pre-placement offer, while every student was allowed to sit for other companies despite having an offer in hand. It may be noted that IIM Bangalore has in the last few days gone on record admitting that it is making the acceptance of PPOs compulsory for students in order to provide opportunities for everyone.

Interestingly, the 2007-09 batch that got placed yesterday was the last batch of students that had paid Rs 5-6 lakh in PGPM course expenses at IIM Ahmedabad. It may be recalled that IIM Ahmedabad had hiked its fee to Rs 11 lakh for the batch joining in 2008. If a similar placement trend continues next year, the return on investment on an IIMA education may diminish considerably.

‘Top MBAs value career growth over job security’

For all those who believed that graduates from elite institutes like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) would prefer job security and high salaries to career growth, a survey states that 77 per cent of top business school graduates value opportunities for career growth over job security or a fat pay, even amid the global meltdown.

According to respondents to the survey, salary is important but not as much as the opportunity to acquire the right skills and grow in their careers. The survey was conducted between March 1-25, 2009, with over 1,500 MBAs with varied work experiences participating in the survey. Median age of the respondents was around 27 years.

As part of a study to identify factors that lead to higher employee retention, engagement and satisfaction by iimjobs.com — an exclusive job portal for MBA students from IIMs and other premier business schools in India —salary and a company’s financial performance can take a backseat when it comes to better career growth and learning at the work place.

The study further states that 59 per cent of top business school graduates look for learning and development opportunities compared to a high salary. iimjobs.com, compiled results of this survey from over 1500 participants. About 35 per cent of them were IIM graduates, while the rest came from other premier business schools like Indian School of Business (ISB), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Xavier Labour Relations Instiute (XLRI)and Management Development Instiute (MDI), to name a few. Work experience of the respondents ranged from zero to 20 years.

“From the data that we have collected, MBA graduates value opportunities for career growth and learning more than job security, even in these turbulent times. Work-life balance seems to be as important as salary and perks. This seemed to be truer for women respondents and those specialising in HR function” says Tarun Matta, founder of iimjobs.com, who graduated from IIM-I in 2003 and quit his job for iimjobs.com, a portal for job seekers.

“Concrete say in the decision-making apparatus of the company is important to me,” mentioned a 2001 IIM-A graduate. For a finance graduate from Mumbai, “In the current recession mode, it is very important to gather key skills to further your career. Salary, company performance only come later.”

An alumni from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)’s 2008 batch, says, “There is a huge gap in the expectation one has when at a b-school and the reality that the individual faces once he/she starts working. This gap leads to de-motivation and makes them disoriented.”

According to Matta, even though the placements at IIMs have wrapped up, students are posting their resumes on the portal. “Hundreds of IIM and ISB graduates submitted resumes on iimjobs.com while the placements were going on. Some of them are continuing to do so, even after the placements have been declared over.

Some of them are availing resume booster service to reach to top recruiters and accelerate their job search. Most of them would manage to get a decent job. This is unprecedented and shows that some of them are not satisfied with the offers they have received.

Even those who have pursued MBA from US/UK universities are looking for jobs in India, as the financial sector in the West has been worse affected. We get 15-20 per cent traffic from outside India even though most advertised jobs are based out of India.”

IIM-C’s PGPEX batch average salary falls by 11%

Placements for IIM-Calcutta’s 2nd Post Graduate Programme for Executives (PGPEX) saw the entire batch getting placed.

This year, the PGPEX programme introduced the option of ‘deferred placements’, so that students interested in pursuing entrepreneurial ventures could avail of the flexibility of placements services, should they need to, in any one of the two subsequent batches of the PGPEX programme. Two students availed of the deferred-placement-policy and have started ventures of their own. One student chose not to participate in the programme and reverted to his parent’s organisation.

Therefore, 34 out of a batch of 37 students participated and all of whom have been successfully placed.

However, there was a 11 per cent drop in average salaries — Rs 18 lakh this year, down from Rs 20 lakh last year. The highest domestic salary, however, saw a steeper drop — falling to Rs 35 lakh from Rs 45 lakh last year.

Last year, about 53 per cent of the jobs on offer were in the IT and ITeS sector. This year, IT and ITeS accounted for only 22 per cent job offers, while sales and marketing accounted for another 22 per cent.

Almost 60 per cent of the graduating batch was from IT & ITeS sector. This suggests that job offerings in PGPEX placements allowed students to leverage their past work experience and stay within the same sector or leverage the PGPEX programme to switch out of sectors they were in.

IIM-C started its 3rd PGPEX batch this year with 53 students whose average GMAT score is 719.

The students have close to 10 years of work experience on an average. As many as 28 students are from IT/ITeS sector.

Executive education sees poor response, lower salary offers

Executive education, where organisations rather than individual students generally foot the bill, has been hit hard as corporate budgets come under ever tighter scrutiny. However, while number of students being sponsored by a company for management education has seen a drop of nearly 20 per cent, placements for these executives is still better off compared to the two-year post graduate programme (PGP) students.

Consider this. At IIM Calcutta (IIM-C), while the PGP students saw a 23 per cent drop in average domestic salaries this year, executive education students saw a 11 per cent drop — Rs 18 lakh this year, down from Rs 20 lakh last year. Industry analysts peg this to the executives’ ability to leverage work experience (10 years work experience, on an average) as well as optimum use of their contacts while looking for jobs after completing management education.

The highest domestic salary, however, saw a steeper drop — falling to Rs 35 lakh from Rs 45 lakh last year. Almost 60 per cent of the graduating batch was from the IT-ITeS sector. “This suggests that job offerings in PGPEX placements allowed students to leverage their past work experience and stay within the same sector or leverage the PGPEX programme to switch out of sectors they were in,” said Praful Agnihotri, placements chairman of IIM-C. On the other hand, the two-year PGP students at IIM-C saw around 23 per cent drop in its average domestic salaries, compared with last year. The domestic average salary this year was Rs 12.7 lakh per annum, while the highest offer was Rs 60 lakh per annum.

Interestingly, IIM-C is one of the very few premier institutes which has managed to complete its placement process for executives. At IIM-Lucknow (IIM-L), IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), and XLRI Jamshedpur, the placement season has been extended and is still continuing, according to sources familiar with the placement process.

As of now, half of the first batch of the International Programme in Management for Executives (IPMX), the one-year residential executive programme at IIM-L, has been placed so far. Around 70 companies have visited the batch of 45 students at its Noida campus for its ongoing final placements, informed Ajay Singh, placements chairman for IPMX at IIM-L’s Noida campus.

E Abraham, Director, XLRI Jamshedpur, says: “The placement scenario has been difficult this year. While PGP students saw only a marginal drop in average salaries, for the executive education programme, it is more difficult this year particularly because companies are not recruiting people with many years of experience.”

This year, the highest salary offered for the PGP students at XLRI was Rs 22 lakh, while the highest international offer this year was $110,000. The the average domestic salary package offered this year was Rs 12.12 lakh per annum. Last year, the average domestic offer at XLRI was Rs 14.75 lakh and the highest domestic offer was Rs 28 lakh, while international offers averaged $90,000, with the highest at $100,000.

ISB, IIM students place resumes on job portals

It’s an unprecedented trend and a far cry from the days when B-schools students would change jobs a mere six months after being placed by their institutes.

The graduates of the 2009 batch from top B-schools, including the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and even the Indian School of Business (ISB), have a different story to tell this year as they continue to upload their resumes on portals even after they have secured jobs during the recently-concluded placements. Not happy with the placements they got this year, they are looking for better opportunities.

Job portals have recently been flooded with resumes, which comes as a surprise even for those who run those portals. Take for instance, iimjobs.com, which received over 300 resumes of 2009 graduates of premier B-schools recently. “Surprisingly, resumes are still pouring in after the placements have been declared over. This is unprecedented and shows that the students are not satisfied with the jobs they have received through the placement process. This trend can be observed across all business schools from across IIMs and ISB to XLRI, FMS and MDI,” said Tarun Matta, founder of iimjobs.com and an IIM Indore graduate.

A student of IIM, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said: “Usually most students from IIMs get good job offers and they take them up to move on to even better ones within six months’ time. But in the current meltdown scenario, many students from the institute have seen a dearth of good offers and taken up whatever average jobs offered. There is a feeling of insecurity and dissatisfaction, which has prompted most to rely on job portals like naukri.com, iimjobs.com and others and given the hope of procuring better offers.”

For the students of the ISB, the plan B of posting resumes on job portals seems to be the ideal choice. “Our placements are still on and I have posted my resume on various job portals as a last resort with the hope that I would get at least something out of these portals. Although some students are getting foreign offers, they are shying away from foreign placements as it only gives more insecurity and raises anxiety,” said an ISB student on conditions of anonymity.

Job seekers, who pursued a management degree from universities in the US or UK, are also looking for jobs in India. Job portals are said to be getting at least 15-20 per cent traffic from outside India. A student of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, who wished anonymity, said: “There are many students who have got interesting offers from foreign companies but have turned them down because there is a growing insecurity among the students about foreign placements. Also, gone are the days when big shot recruiters fat pay packets queued up at the institutes.”