The emphasis is on quality of placements – and this is reflected in the rising number of pre-placement-offers or PPOs as they are called in B-school lingo -- lateral placements and ‘associate offers’.
As many as 81 students got PPOs this year. A large number of students got associate offers too: 11 associate offers from the investment banking sector, and 12 from the consulting sector. Deutsche Bank, with 8 associate offers, was the largest recruiter at this level. IIM-A believes that these offers are at par with those offered to Ivy League B-school graduates.
During Lateral Placements, held prior to the final placements between January-March 2007, the number and quality of placements have surpassed all expectations. As many as 153 offers were made by 38 firms to eligible candidates, and 28 offers were accepted. The average laterals salary touched Rs 16.13 lakh p.a. Out of these offers, there were 14 overseas ones, of which 4 were accepted. The highlight of the Lateral Placements was the highest domestic salary ever received by B-school graduates. The average lateral domestic salary too increased by a huge 52% over last year.
According to IIM A, a major highlight of the Lateral Placements has been the diversity of the job offerings for middle-management positions. This year saw jobs being offered in various segments: private equity, business development, sales, consulting, finance, general management, IT, marketing, operations, retail and strategy. Cypress, Feedback Consulting, Standard Chartered Bank, Booz Allen Hamilton, Arcelor-Mittal, TSMG, Audax, Nexus and Sun recruited laterally this year. Companies like Alshaya, RPG, Essar and Reliance were also involved in laterals, picking up students for middle level positions.
Dr Bakul Dholakia, director, IIM A, was visibly pleased with this trend. “This substantial elevation in entry-level job roles being offered in investment banks and consulting firms is a sign of IIM-A’s fast-growing reputation as a global brand, which can now compete with the best B-schools in the world,” he noted.
