With almost a month to go for final placements of students, pre-placements and lateral placements have increased significantly in the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).
While, lateral placements have gone up 43% this year, pre-placement offers have increased by 10%. Final placement at IIFT would take place on February 4, 5 and 6.
The average salary offered by various companies has also increased 10-15% with the highest salary within the country going up to Rs 13 lakh per annum.
As many as 18 companies from a total of 32 companies, which confirmed participation, picked more than 53 candidates who appeared for lateral placements.
Last year only 19 companies had confirmed participation. In 2006-07, 37 students appeared for lateral placement and 13 companies from total of 19 managed to recruit students.
Lateral placement is for students who have at least 1 year of work experience. ?About four years ago, 80% students had no work experience. This trend has completely reversed in last few years. Even companies now prefer students with work experience,? Munish Bhargava, corporate & placement advisor, IIFT told FE.
Students this year have shown a preference for jobs related to investment banking and marketing over manufacturing, Bhargava added. About a couple of year ago, most students opted for jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Meanwhile, over 30% of the students at IIFT Delhi bagged pre-placement offers, which is 10% higher compared to last year. Even in Kolkata, where the first batch is passing out, 20% students have bagged pre-placement offers.
Apart from companies like Adventity, Axis Bank and Birlasoft, which have been regular at IIFT during the recruitment session, biggies like Avalon Consulting, Patni, TCS, Tata Motors also visited IIFT for the first time.