This year IIM Ahmedabad changed its placement process, keeping in mind the large batch size that is expanding with every passing year. Other IIMs, like IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore, are also weighing their options on improving the placement process. Placements for all IIMs have always been a logistical challenge with so many students interviewing with multitudes of organisations in a very short span of time. This year, IIM-A chose to take the initiative by doing away with the traditional ?day-based? placement process and switching to one that is ?cohort-based?. Though the verdict on the success of the new process is awaited, it is a welcome initiative by the premier management school to try a new approach that would possibly make life easy for both recruiters and students.
Placement time at IIM-A is pretty hectic, and that?s an understatement. To an external observer, it might seem like one big chaotic affair. Senior executives from India and abroad swoop in at Vastrapur, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, to recruit the next generation of managers. It is a veritable talent hunt. They come looking for bright young management graduates who, two years earlier, got the better of over 1,75,000 other students in a process called the Common Aptitude Test (CAT). CAT is a selection process that is meant to assess students? analytical skills through a written exam and their personality through a discussion within a group and a personal interview. As the IIMs carry out quite an elaborate process to select their students, it is only fair that they provide the same opportunity to the recruiters to select their future managers.
The recruiters invest a substantial amount of time and resources to attract the best students to their organisations. The interviews in the second week of March are actually the culmination of a rather drawn-out process that starts some time in December. From December to February, companies come to the campus to give presentations to students. The purpose of such presentations is not just to give information about their organisation and the roles for which they seek to recruit, but also to make an impression upon these young minds. Companies need to impress the students because many of the students will have multiple job offers in due course, which might include offers from their competitors. The students will eventually decide based on their perception of the company during the presentation and the subsequent interaction with executives. The companies also distribute glossy published material giving more detailed information in the form of corporate brochures or annual reports.
After this initial interaction, the placement gets into the second stage?resume submission and short-listing. Around early to mid-February, students submit resumes to companies that interest them. The companies communicate the students that they wish to interview to the placement office, a practice known as short-listing.
The end game of all this happens in the second week of March, when companies actually come for interviewing. In the earlier ?day-based? process, the first day was called Day 0, when the most preferred recruiters come, Day 1 was for the second batch of recruiters, Day 2 for the third batch and so on. Generally, all students got placed by Day 2. Over the years, various permutations and combinations have been tried to make the process less cumbersome for both the students and companies. For instance, Day 0 or Day 1 may actually be spread over two or three calendar days. On the first day of Day 0, which is dominated by investment banks and consulting houses, the initial rounds of interviews happen. On the second day, the final round of interviews is held and offers made. The process then moves to Day 1 and so on, until all the students get placed or all the companies have visited, whichever is earlier. More often than not, at least some companies return empty-handed.
A student who gets short-listed by multiple firms may do anywhere from 10 to 20 interviews on the first day of Day 0. Normally, three interviews in a day can be pretty demanding. Doing more than ten interviews on a single day can be pretty stressful for the brightest of students.
Besides, companies do not get adequate time to interview either, given the increasingly larger pool of students to choose from.
Keeping this in mind, IIM-A adopted the cohort-based system wherein companies are invited in clusters each weekend, depending on the role and opportunities they offer. Companies are grouped in clusters such as within the finance domain into investment banks offering overseas positions, investment banks with positions in India, corporate banking services, financial advisory services, credit rating agencies, etc. This year, around 230 students have been placed with some 60 companies that have visited the campus in three clusters so far.
The new initiative is not the final version of the placement process and most likely will evolve further with time. It is quite probable that this process too may have its share of shortcomings and constraints. That said, it is good to see that the premier management institute is willing to experiment and take risks to better the process. For students, placement is an important landmark of their two-year stay at the institute. During those two years, the institute teaches them to strive for excellence through continuous improvement. I am sure the students would be glad that the institute is making every effort to walk the talk in an aspect that is of significant consequence to them.
?The author, formerly with JPMorganChase, is CEO, Quantum Phinance