The Hindu Business Line : Professional institutes hope for better placement prospects

The institutes offering professional degree courses such as the IITs and IIMs and other business schools are anticipating a better placement season in 2009-2010 vis-À-vis last year with the economy showing signs of revival. Though there might not be a significant improvement in the average pay packages, the institutes are hopeful of achieving 100 per cent placements this year, according to career development heads of these institutes.

Institutes are, therefore, planning to approach more number of companies across various sectors, including the public sector companies that put up a good show last year when recruitments across various private sector and multinational corporations had virtually dried up.

“We are very hopeful about the placements this year and the companies also seem to be very positive about the recruitment scenario,” said Mr S.K. Srivastava, Professor in Charge, Training and Placements, IIT-Kharagpur. The placements at the IIT will start in December, he added.

Internships

Talking about the revival in the economy, Mr Prafulla Agnihotri, Chairperson, Career Development and Placement, IIM-Calcutta, said that some companies had been taking people for summer internships over the last few months. Companies from the marketing and FMCG segments have shown keen interest in the placement process this year, he added.

Prof Siddhartha Datta, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Jadavpur University, and Chairman of Joint Entrance Examinations, said, “While a number of manufacturing companies from automobile, oil and power sectors have already come in, there might be only a limited improvement in IT recruitments.”

This year, the joining date for the new recruits is also likely to be on schedule, Prof Datta said. The companies start campus placements from the end of third semester and the joining date, in a normal year, is July-August. Last year, however, the joining got delayed by six to eight months because of the economic downturn, he pointed out.

Counselling

Institutes are also planning to offer counselling sessions to young graduates in order to enable them to cope with difficult situations. “Taking a lesson from the downturn, the companies this year have been stressing on candidates equipped in handling stress situations,” Mr Datta said.

Though the placement season this year would be better than last year, it would still be difficult to achieve a 100 per cent placement this year, according to Mr C. Srinivas, Dean, Placements, IBS-Hyderabad. The institute, therefore, plans to conduct an extended placement schedule, he added.

More Stories on : Education | Human Resources | West Bengal

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page