Placement dates advanced: it’s Day Zero at IIM-C today
New Delhi: Nervous Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), who
expect to face a tough recruiting season this year, have brought
forward final placement dates from early March to February, with IIM
Calcutta (IIM-C) being the first to launch Day Zero on Saturday.
Students sit for on-campus job interviews and tests during the final placements.
For
the first time, IIM-C will conduct final placements in two phases—from
21-24 February and from 2 March, after the final examinations.
A recruiter told Mint
on condition of anonymity that the IIMs, the country’s most elite
business schools, have pushed forward their placement process as they
are nervous about how successful the job placements will be.
“There
is nervousness that the further they wait, worse the situation will
get,” said the recruiter, who will be visiting the campuses.
IIM-C’s
student responsible for external relations, Rohan Mahajan, declined to
comment on the dates being pushed forward. “We are not expecting the
placements to be as good as last year,” he, however, said. Mahajan is a
2010 batch student whose seniors will sit for placements.
Last
year, IIM placements were launched on 4 March, with IIM Bangalore
taking the lead. While the older and more sought-after IIMs—Ahmedabad,
Bangalore and Calcutta—held a five-day placement process, the fight for
talent actually lasted just two-three days. In the past, eager
recruiters have even used strong-arm tactics such as holding on to
students and not allowing them to sit for subsequent interviews.
This
year, recruiters have said they will hire in conservative numbers
because of the economic slowdown. IIMs will also miss Wall Street
recruiters such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Day Zero.
Some business schools have even gone to the extent of hiring consultants to help placements.
IIM-C’s Mahajan said the placements were broken up into phases to accommodate the examinations.
IIM
Bangalore will begin placements on 27 February, a 2009 batch student
said. IIM Ahmedabad declined to disclose its final placement dates. A
student placement co-ordinator said final placements will be launched
in “last week of February”, but dates had not yet been decided.
Separately,
IIM-C said on Friday it will raise the tuition fee of its two-year
master of business administration programme to Rs9 lakh. The revised
fee is the same as in IIM Bangalore, but lower than in IIM Ahmedabad,
where the programme costs Rs11.5 lakh.
“We have a large
number of need-based scholarships…we will make sure that needy students
aren’t inconvenienced by the fee hike,” said Sekhar Choudhury, director
of IIM-C. Last year, some 80 students were offered tuition waivers by
the institute.
