by teamrecCampus Recruitment has always been the talking point amongst passing out batches in any Educational Institution. Approx. 95% of the students taking admissions in professional courses hope that after completion of their respective courses, they would be placed with well known companies at decent salaries.
The current placement scenario in India is a reflection of the global meltdown in the World economy. Declining number of corporate visiting the campus, coupled with lesser salary packages being offered, is making students wary about their future prospects of making it big in the career of their choice. Regular campus recruiters are also apprehensive and are shying away from the recruitment process this year. Most of them are cutting their recruitment plans or are postponing the same for next year. All stake holders – institutions, students and corporate – are aware that campus recruitment will not be easy in times to come. Placement department in different institutions are putting in their best effort to woo companies to visit their institution for campus recruitment.
Exception to this scenario is students from A+ grade institution like IIMs & IITs, who have had a decent number of offers from corporate, given their brand values though at a lower salary level. Despite the success story of A+ grade institution, it is yet to be replicated by any other institutions in India. The in – campus visit of companies in other institutes, especially those situated in Tier II & III cities, is more sluggish. The effect of downturn is being reflected upon in most of the management and technical institutions across India.
The Change
• Salaries are a manifestation of demand / supply phenomena and previous years have seen a boom in the offered salaries due to high demand, especially in IT/ ITES sector. At present, this curve has been revised and the situation changed and therefore students are now focused on getting placements, salary no longer a major consideration.
• Students are willing to join new and lesser known companies rather than look for companies of their choice.
• The PSUs like IDBI & SBI with their lower offerings on the salary component were never a hit on the campuses. But in these times, they are coming forward in hiring MBAs and the students too are accepting their offers.
• The global meltdown has affected all sectors, especially Financial & IT sectors. Freshers are not only competing with their contemporaries but also with their experienced seniors who have been laid off.
So, is everything lost at ground zero? Although experts believe that the global meltdown is expected to continue till the year end and job opportunities for freshers in 2010 should pick up, but one should be very cautious while focusing on his / her career prospects.
Students and their Faculty must truly believe that this is the correct time for students to keep studying, rather than looking for other options. In fact, most of the students are evaluating their options and are exercising them. While entrepreneurial bug is yet to catch on, most are revisiting the drawing board to see what permutation & combination of profile, package and location would deliver the best return.
Even institutions like AICTE are encouraging them by funding Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) as well as Incubator Centres worth of crores in different academic institutions.
Times are bad and might get worse and one can only hope and believe that good times are going to come soon. One must not be rigid but embrace opportunities with open hands. Hard work and brilliance always pays. Today, one has to prove that he / she is an asset for their employer and not a bag of liability. This is the time for survival of the fittest.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mr. Sanjeev Kumar is currently working as Assistant Professor & Associate Head (Training & Placement) in Academy of Business & Engineering Sciences (ABES), a Ghaziabad based Institute (ranked number 3 amongst self financed institutions affiliated to Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow). He has over nine years of exposure in Campus Recruitments, Staffing Solutions, Client Servicing and Business Development.
He holds Master of Business Economics (MBE) in Marketing from DAVV, Indore and PG Diploma in HRM from IGNOU, New Delhi.
He specialises in designing and implementing strategies related to campus recruitment drives, which focuses on the four M’s (Place More Students to More Companies at More Salaries and More often). As a proactive planner with a flair for adopting emerging trends and addressing industry requirements, he successfully achieved organisational objectives on year on year basis.
Recently, he has successfully organised Faculty Development Programme (MISSION10X) in association with WIPRO Technologies Ltd.
