November 6, 2009
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
The pendulum has swung back! The batch of 2009-11 has been placed successfully within a record 4 days, a phenomenon that would have seemed impossible a couple of months back in the midst of the global financial meltdown. While we expected the pendulum to swing, we did not expect it to swing back so fast, or so far.
Largest batch size placed in shortest time in recent history!
This year, out of a batch size of 312 students, 310 students sat for the placement process and 2 students opted out. All 312 students who sat for the placement process were placed by end of fourth day [Exhibit 1].
The process was comprised of 2 slots, slot 0 and slot 1, both spread over 2 days. Both slots saw participation of a large number of firms. Whereas 166 students were placed on slot 0, the other 144 were placed on slot 1.
Compared to the batch of 2007-09 comprising 262 students which was placed in 6 days and the batch of 2008-10 comprising 300 students which was also placed in 6 days, the batch of 2009-11 has, despite being the largest batch with 312 students, been placed in 4 days, the shortest time in recent memory [Exhibit 2].
We are happy to see that recruiters have reposed faith in the quality of students at IIMA and the flight to quality that we observed during the Final Placements of batch of 2007-09 has continued into the summer of 2010.
Finance again top draw
Finance remained the top pick of students again this year, with 44% of students opting for roles in finance – investment banking, private equity, corporate banking and treasury roles. Eighteen percent of the students opted for Marketing roles in Sales and Marketing management, branding, business development and marketing research. Consulting and General Management were the next two preferred domains followed by IT [Exhibits 3 and 4].
We observed a drastic turnaround in hiring by the Investment banks over the last summer placement season. Last year, for the 2008-10 batch, the number of offers made by Day 0 Investment Banks and accepted by students stood at 35 whereas this year, this number has shot up to 77.
Prominent regular recruiters were back with some first-time recruiters
The Royal Bank of Scotland saw the highest number of acceptances – a total of 12 students will join the Royal Bank of Scotland for summer internships in April-May 2010. Tata Administrative Services (TAS) reaffirmed its faith in IIMA students by extending 10 offers, all of which were accepted. Some of the other prominent recruiters were McKinsey and Company, Bain, the Boston Consulting Group, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Nokia, Nestle, Pepsi, Cadbury, HUL, P&G, Amazon and Microsoft. Many firms also recruited for the first time at IIMA campus this year. Prominent first time recruiters were Walt Disney, Nomura, Airtel, Oberoi Constructions and Western Union.
Positions offered across the globe
There was a deluge of international profiles on offer with almost every firm on Day 0 offering international locations. Banks like RBS came exclusively for international roles across Hong Kong, Singapore and London. From the marketing and general management sector, we had P&G, HUL, Coca Cola, Renault, Starcom MediaVest, TAS and Aditya Birla Group offering overseas internships. Firms have offered internships at diverse locations like France, Germany, United Kingdom, the Middle-East, Africa, South-East Asia and the United States of America. The overall number of international acceptances stood at 76, almost a quarter of the batch.
Looking forward: Cautious optimism
Pendulums have a habit of swinging back and forth. What sets apart a premier management institute is the ability to emerge stronger from the downturns. The testing times have allowed us the opportunity to reconnect with traditional recruitment partners as well as explore completely new sectors. These initiatives have helped the students explore a diverse set of functions, roles and career paths.
Prof. Saral Mukherjee, Chairperson of the Placement Committee said, “We had not expected such a drastic upturn in the demand for quality talent and hence the summer placements have come as a pleasant surprise to us. However, this may not necessarily translate into increased final placement hiring as often summer placements serve a different need of the recruiter. Hence, we are upgrading our expectation of final placements to one of cautious optimism and at the same time working hard towards attracting a diverse set of recruiters to campus. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our long-term recruitment partners who have stood by us during testing times.”
Annexures
Exhibit 1: Total number of PGP students participating in the placement process
Exhibit 2: Number of PGP students placed and days taken
Exhibit 3: Functional preferences of the batch of 2009-11 (figures in percent)
Exhibit 4: Functional preferences of PGP students over the last three years (figures in percent)
IIMA Media Cell in association with Managementparadise.com
Re: IIM Ahemdabad Summer Placement 2009 -
November 17th, 2009
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