Placements at
IIM Ahmedabad Continue to Show Growing Preference for Indian Firms & Locations
Dispelling all anxieties and
rumors about reduced hiring due to the subprime crises and the world-wide
economic slow-down, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, successfully
conducted its final placement process from 6th March to 11th March 2008.
The process, which saw
participation by over 90 firms, re-affirmed
the status of the institute as the premier destination for recruiters in India.
A significant portion of the batch (more than 65% or 161 students) had been
placed or had opted out by the end of the much-coveted Slot Zero of placements,
which saw the participation of as many as 25 firms. Even though the geographical distribution of offers extended by the
firms remains the same, students have shown a distinctive trend to work in the
emerging market economies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Global
Investment Banks Maintain Faith in IIM Ahmedabad
Despite the grim situation in
international financial markets, a total of 113 students out of a
Batch of 255 will be joining the financial
sector this year. At a time when many banks have imposed �hiring freezes� on
their international recruitments, students at IIM-A have been preferred over
students from other business schools across the world. The major banks to
recruit students of the batch of 2008 include Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers,
Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Merill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, among others.
In addition to this, 12 students
have opted for jobs in private equity which is significantly more than in
previous years. Among the private equity players, Greater Pacific Capital and
Carlyle Group chose to recruit solely from IIM-A. Credit Suisse also recruited
exclusively for final placements 2008.
Consulting
Firms Dominate Slot Zero
In a break from the past, the
much-coveted Slot Zero saw consulting firms emerge as the most preferred
destination for students. For the first time, many of the coveted Slot 0
consulting firms offered international positions across USA and Europe.
Consulting majors Monitor Group and Oliver Wyman made their first appearance at
the process and had respectively 9 and 5 acceptances. Monitor Group recruited
exclusively from IIM-A across all business schools in Asia. "We are extremely
happy with the quality of students and hope to build this relation going
forward," said a recruiter from Oliver Wyman.
Other long-time recruiters such
as McKinsey (13 acceptances), BCG (8 acceptances) and Bain (7 acceptances) were
among the major consulting firms participating in the process. A total of 41
offers were made by Slot 0 consulting firms at the final placements itself.
Growing
Preference for Indian Firms & Locations
The increasing preference for
Indian firms and locations is another major trend that comes out of the
placement process. Many students opted for India as a location and
preferred roles in India over associate offers in prominent investment banks
abroad. Furthermore, the increasingly attractive roles and packages offered by
Indian firms have led to a larger number of students opting for Indian companies
over MNCs offering comparable salaries and roles.
Diane Gabriel, a French student
doing a dual degree program from ESSEC Business School and IIM Ahmedabad, would
be joining BCG in India. As she puts it, "My main motivation behind choosing
this program was that I could get a chance to work in India. This is where the
growth is and I wanted to be part of that growth."
Growing
Diversity
What has made these placements
truly remarkable is the diversity of the firms on all days of the event - even
the Slot 0 offers span across sectors. Although the top investment banks and
consulting firms continue to have the highest number of acceptances, the student
community got a much more diverse pool of firms and roles to choose from.
Sectors such as real estate, media, hedge funds, industrial marketing, among
others made a debut on campus this year.
Faster,
Higher, Stronger
Given the adverse market
conditions, the salaries offered to IIM-A students this year have exceeded all
expectations. The average domestic salary amongst the
accepted offers this year is Rs. 17.85 Lakhs, a stunning 30% jump
from last years� average figure of Rs. 13.7 Lakhs. The
average international salary is US $ 1,19,000, which again is a
significant jump from previous years.
The
highest international acceptances ranged from $ 280,000 to $ 360,000
depending on minimum and average bonuses. The highest
domestic acceptance was in the range of Rs. 50 Lakhs to Rs. 70 Lakhs.
Lateral
Placements 2008
The lateral placement process
conducted in the months of January and February 2008 was unprecedented both in
terms of scale and diversity. The significant amount of prior work experience of
the batch of 2006-08 led to an increase in the number of students eligible for
lateral placements from 89 last year to 112 this year. With this increase, even
the number of firms participating in the process shot up to 37. These firms made
a total of 103 offers in the process.
The average salary for the
laterals process as a whole saw an increase from Rs. 16.2 Lakhs last year to Rs.
18.3 Lakhs this year. Many big names in fields such as consulting, private
equity, general management and banking participated in the process, and some of
them recruited exclusively from IIM-A.
Sectors such as private equity,
niche consulting, technology and logistics made a debut at this process. The
growing number of firms on campus offering diverse roles, greater job
responsibilities and higher compensation packages, at a time when the global job
market is in a downturn, stands testament to the quality and diversity of the
talent at IIM-A.
The
Entrepreneurship Saga Continues
With as many as
11 talented young people opting out of the placement
system to start their own ventures, the trend of taking this less traveled road
has grown stronger. These students have plans to start their ventures in areas
as diverse as logistics, manufacturing, advertising, finance and agro-processing
in addition to information technology. There are many factors driving these
young entrepreneurs: a larger appetite for risk, the thrill of controlling their
own destiny, and the promise of great success. IIM Ahmedabad is also playing a
part in promoting this trend; the institute recently came up with the policy of
a �placement holiday�, which allows graduating students who choose
entrepreneurship as a career option to sit for the institutes� placement process
for two years after passing out from the institute. However, so far not a single
person has availed of this policy, which is testament to the quality of ventures
started by students passing out. Dushyant Mullur, who plans a venture in the
Services Domain, says, "The culture is wonderfully supportive in terms of
encouraging entrepreneurship. Be it professors, peers, or the institute, support
is one thing certainly not lacking." Siddharth Jaiswal adds, "I feel the biggest
learning for me at IIM-A has been to think BIG."
