The Lateral Placements program is for students with prior industry experience. This year, approximately 30% of the Class of 2008 (55 students of a batch of 180 students) were eligible for the Lateral Placements program. 35 recruiters from India and abroad participated in Lateral Placements on campus, and a total of 103 offers were made. The average salary for Lateral Placements 2008 stood at Rs 15.56 lac per annum.
International Recruiters too turned out in at IIMK, making no less than 13 offers to students of the Class of 2008. The highest international salary was pegged at USD 175,000.
Says IIM-K, "Lateral Placements for the Batch of 2008 came of age, with a number of compelling trends being observed. Contrary to previous years, when lateral placements were typically dominated by the IT/ITeS sector, this year Lateral Placements saw offers from across diverse industries, recruiting for a wide set of roles and functions. The roles and profiles on offer were significantly richer and more challenging than what has traditionally been offered to students in a campus placement program."
Lateral Placements 2008 saw participation by key recruiters from across a diverse set of industries. Some industries that found representation at Lateral Placements 2008 included Consulting, Banks and Financial Services, Media & Technology, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Healthcare & Pharma, Retail and Telecommunications to name a few.
The Consulting sector was out in full force, with industry heavyweights like KPMG, Monitor Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Hewitt Associates, Deloitte & Touche, Boston Analytics, i2 Consulting, GrowTalent and Capgemini making top-drawer consulting offers.
The Banks and Financial Services sector was represented by Barclays, Citibank, Lehman Brothers, Standard Chartered and Yes Bank, amongst other companies.
The fast-growing Media, Technology and Telecom sectors participated by making offers at Lateral Placements Season. Times Group participated in Lateral Placements for the first time this year. CSC, Headstrong, Infosys, Wipro, Indus Valley Partners, HCL, Virtusa and IBM represented the technology domain in full force. Telecom companies like Aricent and Verizon initiated a relationship with IIMK this year, making a large number of offers to capable candidates.
One of the key trends observed at Lateral Placements this year was that offers were made to students across business functions, says IIM-K.
Strategy, Consulting, Finance, Marketing, HR and Operations, all saw offers being made to students by organizations that demonstrated unprecedented conviction in hiring talent from IIMK to drive the future of their businesses. Diversified conglomerates like Essar Group, RPG Group and L&T offered roles across functions, including plum positions on core business strategy teams.
Strategy Roles on offer at Lateral Placements this year included Corporate Strategy, Project Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions Strategy as well as EA roles to CXO level executives at top corporations from India and abroad. The finance sector made offers for roles in Investment Banking, Treasury Sales, Trading, Product Structuring, Wholesale Banking, Relationship Management and Merger & Acquisitions. Marketing firms offered management roles to candidates with relevant prior work experience in the industry.
Sunrise industries including technology companies made offers for Account Manager, Program Manager, Business Development Manager and Project Manager positions.
Bullish about the final placements days ahead, IIM-K says, "A powerful performance in Lateral Placements augurs well for a landmark Final Placement Season at IIM-K. With corporate interest in the institute at an unprecedented high, IIM-K is poised for an impressive showing at Final Placements 2008. Consistently challenging itself to break new frontiers and push the envelope further, IIM-K is truly redefining the moniker – the Next Generation IIM."
