1) Primary purpose at a B-School should be to learn and acquire knowledge and not woo companies
While there is no doubt that a placement committee stint is a great learning experience, I do not think that it needs to become the focus or the highlight of one’s b-school tenure. We come to business schools to learn and get a perspective on business in general and not on how recruitment consulting is done. Yes, there are exceptions and all-rounders who manage to accomplish both (I know people who have been in the top 10 at the end of both the years and still worked in the placement committee!). However, exceptions do not make a rule and in general most placecommers will admit that their classroom learning and academics in general took a hit. Placement seasons last all year long these days after enhanced batch sizes and I don’t see how a placement committee member can do justice to academic coursework.
2) It may help in ending nepotism
It is a known fact across the business school community about the role the alumni factor plays in placements in India. While it exists even abroad, in India it has been taken to a completely different level. There is a high dependence on alumni in influential positions to push company recruitment policy towards visiting the campus they hail from. And a typical Indian pattern of creating an elitist circle develops. There are certain roles in top MNCs with subsidiaries in India where if you are not from a particular campus you will never break through irrespective of whether you’re good. While these companies talk about being equal opportunities employer on their website, at least in India they do not follow it. Even interview opportunities are not given. Individual merit goes out of the picture. I believe having a professional agency handle the placements will help break this nexus and culture of elitism and there will be more focus on individual achievement and merit.
3) Transparency
No matter which business school you talk of, there is always talk of placement committee members influencing companies, shortlists, selections etc. There is always talk about how friends of committee members are ‘pushed’. In times of supply of quality jobs being scarce, the talk becomes shriller. I have personally seen both sides, people talking even when the committee is doing the job honestly (grapes are sour syndrome) and also times when incompetent people are being pushed only because they are someone’s friends.
I feel that a highly professional team of experts can help reduce such cases. No potential beneficiary will be conducting the process and incentive to unduly influence the process does not exist. It may not eliminate the issues completely but the system will be much better.
4) Informed choice for jobseekers
The way the placement process is conducted currently in most top business schools, very little information is available about the job except for a misleading PowerPoint presentation where companies just gloat about themselves. Job description sheets are cryptic and leave you to figure out what you will be doing exactly. There is a lot of smoke and there are countless stories of misinformation, unmatched expectations and unhappiness 15 days into the job.
Ideally, companies should interact with job seekers before the interview process and it should happen in an informal environment.
I had always heard about how campus placements happen abroad but it was at University of St.Gallen, Switzerland on my exchange term that I really understood the power of the process. Everyone in Switzerland knows which companies are visiting the university on which day as details are available of the career website. No university tries to hide the kind of companies they are expecting. Contrast that to India, where placement committees of top institutes are trying every trick in the book to get information about companies ‘rival’ campuses are in touch with. (There is this classic case of two Mumbai MBA institutes where one hacked the accounts of the other). However, what I really liked about the process is the time one got to spend with the company officials. There was a dedicated 2 hour session where you could meet the company over drinks and snacks, discuss stuff you would not do on public forum and clear your doubts about the exact nature of the job. Applications also had to be made only after the session was over. It was a much better approach according to me. I believe they could do it because of a dedicated career development centre. I am not saying it is a full proof system. But infinitely better than deciding without complete information, with 100 doubts and hoping that your luck will take you somewhere.
[caption id="attachment_439" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Talent Conference at St.Gallen[/caption]
Companies are lied to. A lot of institutes do not allow job seekers to reveal their CAT percentiles in their resume or in the interview. Companies desperately want to know that for obvious reasons (read: government regulations). Companies are told they are on Day 0 when there have already been 5 companies before them and all have been told they are Day 0. Two rival companies are not aware that the other is also on campus at the same time. Candidates are whisked away from one location of the campus to another to ensure no one sees them going from one interview room to another. There has to be an end to this nonsense. It is so ironical that you are doing a course on ethics and fair management practices exactly while this nonsense is going on around you. And this happens across most campuses. It got accentuated over the last 2-3 years due to the meltdown and it seems to have become a habit now. Someday someone has to put his/her foot down and tell a company that they will come on Day 1 only because better companies will come on Day 0. If they don’t come after that, so be it.
Professionally run career development centres cannot afford to fool companies as their reputation will be at stake. While students could be pardoned for being liars, professional agencies cannot be.
Let both the sides the companies and the institutes put forward what they can offer on the table in a clean transparent manner. In the long run it is a win-win for all stakeholders and most importantly for the candidate taking the job.
I think the cohort system at IIM Ahmedabad is a great step forward. I don’t see any reason why other IIMs should not follow a similar system. You cannot become world –class on the back of fragile systems that are a relic of the past. In my opinion it is much more important to help students get a job of their choice and interest rather than the most high-paying one.
The argument about the cost of setting up a career development centre being too high just does not ring in. Take most top business schools in India. The flagship PGP programme costs upwards of Rs.1 million. We are not even talking about the peripheral courses and the MDPs. I don’t think any IIM director can give this argument anymore.
- Ankit Doshi
Comments
Vivek Krishnan
100% pure sense.
2 Jul 2011, 10.58 PM
Rahul
Interesting views but how can you ensure CDC guys will solve these problems? I am not convinced..If the institutes are hand in glove and are letting this happen..they will influence CDC too and wrong things may still happen
3 Jul 2011, 03.28 PM
siddharth
with ever increasing cost of the MBA program i believe its highly unlikely that the expectations of students regarding salary packages and profiles at least are going to change..the points mentioned in the article require a systemic change which require an HONEST effort by the insti management..Going by my experience the efforts are hardly but honest therefore even a CDC wont work simply coz it wont be allowed to. With the CDC the students might have a placebo effect that things are more professional now without realising that actually the system is now more n more driven by the faculty and hence is more n more socialist in nature..
3 Jul 2011, 03.56 PM
Ankit Doshi
@Siddharth - What you are saying pertains more to placement policies, whether a candidate can accept or reject an offer. What about being better informed about the job you are actually vying for? About information to companies? Are you saying institute management asks students to do it improperly?
5 Jul 2011, 04.34 PM
Pankil
Few observations from my experience in US Universities: Job of Career Placement services is very subjective. One can rate it only on case to case basis. We can hear good things about them as well as bad things. Regarding point number 2 and 3. I think it is fairly evident everywhere in the world. No University can claim to be completey biased free in terms of their career services role (whether run by students or CDC) Alumni plays a big role in US as well. Top Companies only go to certain school. Even if you are top student from Tier 2 University, you dont make the cut. I guess maybe the issue at hand is you probably want a structure and rule based career service, where it is open to everyone but it would be very hard to replicate in real life.
13 Jul 2011, 11.44 AM
Anandh Sundar
While I liked all your earlier articles, this article is wayout. I can sympathize that you are not from the A+ colleges and so would like a fairer playing field for colleges like IIM-I, what incentive do the incubents have to change? Anyways, A point by point counter is 1) Primary purpose at a B-School should be to learn and acquire knowledge and not woo companies:- This applies for ANY extra curricular activities. Do you think that the Sponsorship/Media Cell/Corp Comm/PR teams are not doing simillar activities? It is the person's choice whether to do so or not 2) It may help in ending nepotism:-Alumns will ANYWAY help their campus-CDC or no CDC. I do not see the relevance of this point 3) Transparency:-Maybe you have a point there. But again, it depends on how the placecomm team functions and the integrity/supervision of the process. 4)Informed Choice:-If you really think companies will give their negatives on a public forum, then I'm surprised. If someone is too lazy to google/check with alumni, then they deserve what they get 5)Complete information for companies:- Stating CAT percentile would be tantamount to disclosing caste details and defeating reservation purpose, so I can't see this being allowed anytime soon. And transparency is a myth. When the companies themselves are not transparent, why should students?
16 Nov 2011, 11.51 AM
+Read Replies (2)
Ankit Doshi
I'll ignore your A+ institute jibe. But I fail to understand why you think this article was written to get a fairer playing field for any institute. Rebuttal below: 1) Media Comm, Corp Comm, Sponsorship teams etc. are ways for student development and personality enhancement. No one joins management schools to be part of placement committees. If they do, they are there for entirely the wrong reasons. Let me also add that in a lot of institutions in India even extra-curricular activity posts are created so that students get resume bullet points. That is quite deplorable as well. 2) Nepotism is a cultural trait in India. There are business schools across the world and companies look at a pool of these schools which number in excess of 50 from where they do recruitment. There is enough data on this. In India, this also occurs because quality roles are fewer and competition higher. This has led the older business schools to build a circle of exclusivity and the younger schools are doing the same.In a country of 1 billion people few people who have passed out from 2-3 institutions cannot dictate terms. A professionally run CDC can change this scene in a big way. It is doing reasonably well in a place like ISB and there is no reason why it will not work else where. My prediction is that 5 years from now there will be at least a couple of IIMs with full-time professionals in CDC. 3) Professionals are paid for their job and they have no incentive to favor one student over another at least in the theoretic sense. Any divergence may cost them their job. Anyway we are talking about highly qualified professionals running the CDC 4) I suggest you go and experience a process in a university where a professional CDC exists and where students get to spend sufficient time with the recruiter. Otherwise you will never get the point. 5) "When the companies themselves are not transparent, why should students?" - Such a statement does not deserve an argument Don't know what you mean by 'incumbents' - But the point was that with batch sizes slated to reach 500+ soon it is not viable to have student- run placements. Professionals are likely to do a much better job than students who are still learning. Student-run placements were a good idea when batch sizes were 120-180. Not anymore.
16 Nov 2011, 12.37 PM |
aks
Great analysis. I agree with you
2 Dec 2011, 01.51 AM |
Anandh Sundar
Agreed with the professionalism of the CDC. But about whether that is better for students, I have my doubts on that. From my interactions with 20+ exchange students, they have nearly unanimously said that the process here is much smoother for students than abroad(CDCs) where a person needs to schmooze and network. I agree with you that companies may get a raw deal atleast at IIM ABC but then,. do remember that the power imbalance is otherwise tilted against students, so that rights the balance a bit.
16 Nov 2011, 06.15 PM
Aditya Maira
Another problem with student run placement committee is that every year, there is a new co-ordinator. So every year he has to build relations with the company officials. With a placement agency in place, this would be obviated
16 Nov 2011, 06.26 PM
Anant
Anyone who supports student run placement has to be a placecommer him/her-self... CDC makes whole lot of sense and is a way forward..(speaking in the benefit of all students) Considering that when Harvard/Stanford get entry into indian education segment...IIM reputation will get a huge hit.... The point made by my friend Anandh Sundar, is exactly whats wrong with thought process of some guys in India(hopefully which should change soon) Current IIM Calcutta student
17 Nov 2011, 01.11 AM
+Read Replies (1)
Anandh Sundar
I'm not a placecommer :P I was stating that while CDC may make sense for the system(college+students+recruiters), it is difficult to state how it is better FOR the student, than student run placement committee. After all, CDC has no 'soul' as expressed by others in this thread; also all the other points like clusters, rolling interviews etc can be done under the existing system as well. Current IIM-A student
20 Nov 2011, 12.17 AM |
Roshan
i find it difficult to agree with point number 5. I dont find placecoms doing unethical practices and hiding info from companies. Companies very clearly know who among their rivals are present on campus and there have been cases of egoistic company officials walking off just because they were informed the truth. I have never seen a candidate being whisked off from one location to another. If at all they are, its because companies try to poach candidates on the way to their rival's interview room.
17 Nov 2011, 02.30 AM
+Read Replies (2)
Shreyas
if u havent seen placecoms lieing to companies and students being whisked, then i am afraid u hvnt seen a placement process, i can atleast say tht about the IIMs
17 Nov 2011, 03.53 PM |
Maheshwari
Point 5 is very valid. I have definitely seen such things on my campus. Officialy day 0 and unofficial day 0 are two very different dates.
8 Dec 2011, 01.24 PM |
Roshan
in my opinion a CDC just wont have the soul or empathy in running a placement process
17 Nov 2011, 02.32 AM
shreyas
Completely agree with your opinion. A CDC will solve one major set of problems with the current system. but a few things that are out of CDC's control are companies and students. No company wants to spend 2 hours on a campus just chatting up to students who may or may not ask them questions abt the job, and in any case the answers of those questions will be random ones, because lets face it, there is no defined role for an MBA. companies want to go for interviews and select no other messing about second the students, i think 60-70% students wish for the high paying slot zero job even if the company doesnt show a JD...now if a system is to cater to such a group it will hv to cater to lieing to companies, creating alum pull and elitist grps...a CDC will be very objective abt it but then as the comment above mine suggests they will be called soulless and apathetic... ex placecommer from IIM L
17 Nov 2011, 03.34 PM
GradMBA
How can CDC wont be affected by the prejudices. For sure there will be a set of students who will be assigned to help CDC and they will end up having the benefit. Then what will be your next step? Taking the benefit point forward - Talking about the 'pushing', a placement committee has about 7-10 members, and add their about 20 odd friends. The total ends up to 30 odd jobs of about 350-400 available. Why the concentration is on that set when you have about 90-95% without any Pushing. Yes I have heard that not so good student making the cut sometime but rarely heard that a deserving candidate not getting his due. (Yes, life is not fair after all!) About students asking the questions and on campus sessions - The set of people who will be interested in asking the question will be far less than the set of people who will be interested in the Drinks and cookies! Companies wont like to waste time here. The attendedence in the sessions is because a fine/ penalty is imposed on the defaulters. Do you really think that a CDC will be as reciprocating to the students as the placement committees are? Studying or not is placecommers personal choice, then why only dismantle placements committee, and not the other student bodies. Just the interest clubs be allowed. More than 70% students still make the choice based on salary rather than the work/ profile they want to join. In PPTs you can find people awake only when slide with compensation comes for discussion. The system defined control wont work here, it is more about changing the culture and the mindset of the people. At this I am not sure how that can be done or can be done at all?
17 Nov 2011, 06.48 PM
Anusmit
I think Ankit here is talking about scale...lets face it post 2007 batch sizes have increased...IIM fees have increased....job offers have reduced or are not enough when one considers burgeoning batch sizes across IIMs ... Lets also take at face value that every IIM (placement committees)wants to place x students in y days flat and gloat about it....lets face it guys this is not how it can go on...ISB placements are a case in point...what this means is rolling interviews... On the point of non-deserving students getting through and deserving ones not...for every shortlist which is not a potential offer 2 jobs are wasted in the overall scheme of things... The concept of a CDC a dedicated one at that will ensure a much more robust process of matching students' and firm interest which it how it happens in many places abroad...this change will not happen over one year all of a sudden...companies will also have to figure out how to best utilise this flexibility....day 0 will always be day 0 but these same firms invest a lot of time in candidates when they hire abroad....a 40 minute interview with placecomm banging down the door with students flashing competitor offer card is only a day 0 phenomenon which is again not liked by a ll firms... Not all students get placed in day 0 hence the commitment which is required is to figure out firms which pay decent money and also offer decent roles for the rest.... problem when there is a media frenzy about x students in y days is that this will always be overlooked ... A rethink on the process is definitely warranted both by campuses and firms
17 Nov 2011, 09.01 PM
Anandh Sundar
I think the scale argument does not cut it. Granted that placing a batch of 400+ people is far different from placing just 200, but then the Placement committee size would be commensurate with that. And remember that in IIMs(speaking for ABC atleast), there IS a placements office which helps with the administrative side of things and maintaining data secrecy etc. The scale issue is more of logistics, and for that employees are fine.
20 Nov 2011, 12.17 AM
Ankit Doshi
I am extremely interested in knowing the what this 'soul' argument is. What do you mean by student run placements have a 'soul'? Are we romanticizing a very objective concept? All students care for is a transparent and fair process which at the same time offers the best available opportunities. I'm not sure whether a committee has a 'soul' or not matters.
20 Nov 2011, 09.29 AM
Abhishek
I think the analogies being provided do not make sense at all. Moreover, your argument about the cohort system, trust me no college can pull that off for the lack of bargaining power. First, ask the industry to change before dishing out "5 reasons why student run placements should be banned".
30 Nov 2011, 03.45 PM
Ravi
I believe that the one reason that forces many placecomms to lie is that the companies are so jealous of each other and bargain for slots with their 'equal' competitors, even though, often that is not true due to multiple reasons. students can easily rank these companies but disclosing the actual rank and slot will hurt the ego of many 'so-called slot 0' companies. this ego tussle being forced on the placement committees is the cause for point no. 5 that you have listed. Lying becomes inevitable especially when even 1 job offer is precious. Industry should be ready to be transparent and stop this dog-eat-dog attitude. They should also accept certain truths like being no.1 in terms of revenues in the world does not mandate a slot 0 as brand value in a campus is built over time and not with financial strength. A CDC may not be the right solution purely because a third-party can never represent the needs of students. For them, it'll be about getting each student a job, may not be the best job that he aspires for. Accountability of these CDCs will be a huge problem as well.
30 Nov 2011, 04.48 PM
Girish
brilliant insights. nicely written.!!!!!!!!!!
30 Nov 2011, 06.16 PM
Ankit Doshi
I appreciate everyone's opinion here. Its your point of view. I respect it. But I am free to have mine. I have had a lot of angry placommers comment negative(sometimes even abuse). A lot of them put in fake email ids. Some are brave. Anyway, at this stage both placommers and current students should be a little concerned about this - Final Placements for the Class of 2012 - <a href="http://insideiim.com/final-placements-class-of-2012-big-test-for-the-iims/" rel="nofollow">http://insideiim.com/final-placements-class-of-20...</a> A CDC may or may not happen in the future but this year will be challenging,
30 Nov 2011, 07.15 PM
Knio
If I may add something here, I would consider IIM Education to be a complete waste of my time and money, were it not for placecom. I have learnt more there than I would ever learn as part of any other club/society/class. As for your transparency and nepotism arguments go, there is always a disputable decision involved, which is why it is a decision in itself - the downside risk of taking a view and acting upon it is non zero. And being part of the team that I was, I can honestly say (and I have no reason to lie, for I have not revealed the name of my institute anyways) that we as placecom have placed ethics very very high in our priority, and people outside of the team have no clue as to the lengths we have gone to, to stick to it. And I can say with utmost pride, that we did not take a single decision that we did not think was ethically or morally right. You may or may not believe me, but I know I have not been a party to wrongdoing, and that is enough. The way it happens abroad is certainly the right way to go about, but it has a lot of practical speedbumps, many of which need to be ironed out. However, the recent meetings between placement chairpersons and recruiters regarding this seem to indicate that it may be a step in the right direction, and like everything else, we need to give India time to catch up to the best practices of the world. Thanks.
30 Nov 2011, 08.28 PM
+Read Replies (1)
Raman
"If I may add something here, I would consider IIM Education to be a complete waste of my time and money, were it not for placecom. I have learnt more there than I would ever learn as part of any other club/society/class." - You do realise that not everyone in a batch of 400 will be in the placement committee. Just because you learnt the world by being in placecomm does not mean that there should be a placement committee. So that 15 people can 'learn'
6 Jun 2012, 05.12 PM |
Rashmi Thakur
Very biased views. Some arguments totally uncalled for. Definitely no proof. Just shows you have not been a placommer !
30 Nov 2011, 10.57 PM
+Read Replies (3)
Ankit Doshi
I am surprised why people look at this article as being anti-placement committee. It is just in support of something else and not against current placement committees. And arguments are based on incidents and anecdotes from a variety of business schools. Why are people from placement committees taking it personally?
30 Nov 2011, 11.14 PM |
Rashmi Thakur
You have quoted your personal views at various places. Just as u have right to your views, this article is incomplete without views from various placement committees.
1 Dec 2011, 01.26 AM |
Ankit Doshi
You are free to write an article with your point of view. I am sure the editor at insideiim will only be happy to publish it as long as it is not abusive.
1 Dec 2011, 08.17 AM |
Anandh Sundar
Maybe this article calls for a followup. The comments on this thread seem polarized between 'Placecomm rocks and is best for the students' and 'Only CDC can professionalize the system can handle the demands of growing batches'. Points like complete choice and complete information seem too idealistic given the recruiter attitude, and nepotism for a few may well be replaced by indifference towards the many as in CDC.
1 Dec 2011, 01.46 AM
Suvid
I was a placecommer and here are my views (they may be biased a little) Let me start by saying that the process followed right now is not perfect. but sadly the fact is it can never be perfect. Let me explain why. It is true students are whisked away. How many students have asked to be whisked away so that some other company does not offer them a job first ? The answer is many. How many companies have stalled their processes so that their rival's process is affected or they can hold on to candidates ? The answer again is many. Are companies misinformed or lied to ? That i think is a grey area. No one can be blatantly lied to. No placecommer ( or anyone else) is that stupid. All the company guys *especially HRs) know each other. They have been moving around the same colleges on the same days for years. They know each other professionaly as well and they talk to each other. Any blatant lie will be caught and the company will walk out. Are people (friends etc) pushed or favored ? That frankly depends on the people in placecomm. Now coming to CDC, my view is it wont work as it does not solve any of the above mentioned problems and raises quite a few more, 1) Student run committees are more hard working. They focus on not just 100% placements but also quality placements. no agency will match the enthusiasm or rigor of a student run committee. 2) Alumni will always be the key. CDC or not. What a CDC will do is give even more emphasis on networking and individuals reaching out to alumni. 3) Informed choice for job seeker : Please. Companies come and give PPTs a month before the process and no one even bothers to attend them. all everyone wants to know is the package. At max, people will attend the top 10 company PPTs. 4) "If companies dont come, so be it" : I LOLed at this one. The batch will lynch you in broad daylight of you have such an attitude. Some companies play hard ball and you have to play hardball as well. But you dont want to lose good jobs. Remember, its a matter of the careers and lives of the people in the batch. 5) "Primary objective of Bschool is to learn" Trust me, those few days of placements, whether you be in placecomm or in support committees or watching your seniors get placed or whatever, those few days will teach you what you will never learn in 50 subjects of 20 sessions each. It will teach you who you are and what you are made of. Something which will be far more useful to you in your life than any subject you learn. Just a rant, so please no brick bats ! Just wanted to get the other side of the story as well ! Comments are very welcome ! :)
1 Dec 2011, 01.55 AM
+Read Replies (1)
Saikiran
Being a placecom member, I completely am in echo with whatever you said buddy !
19 Mar 2013, 08.48 PM |
Dravid
This is why IIPM is better than IIMs!!!
1 Dec 2011, 03.46 AM
RamLakhan
you are an idiot!
1 Dec 2011, 06.00 AM
(Nir)doshi
very Well said Suvid. This doshi guy has been writing stupidity for way too long now! seriously doshi dude....get a life. I believe you are from IIM-I and should know that your formula won't work for the batch sizes that the IIMs are looking at. Agreed that the current thing may not be perfect, but as Suvid said your CDC or watever ABC you are suggesting won't be of any good either. So don't rant about anything just because you want to.
1 Dec 2011, 06.05 AM
+Read Replies (1)
Team InsideIIM
Please maintain decorum of the forum. You can criticize writers here and argue but please do not abuse anyone. It is not fitting of people studying in premier institutions. Do note that although we don't ask anyone to register before commenting, we do track your IP addresses.
1 Dec 2011, 08.15 AM |
Ankit Doshi
According to me, this is just the first step in the series of reforms that will eventually lead to CDCs coming into IIMs in some form. <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/day-based-placements-at-iims-to-go/articleshow/11001901.cms" rel="nofollow">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-...</a>
6 Dec 2011, 04.54 PM
Anshul
I agree with the points mentioned in the article. There is a serious issue with professionalism of placement committee members. The fingers are raised everytime even if the committe members may not be doing anything wrong. The members have experience of just 1 year of running the placement system, can we leave things as sensitive as placements to such low experience! Alumnus, IIM-Banglore
7 Dec 2011, 08.41 PM
Gaurav
I agree that in our economy , It is of uttermost importance that Guys going to top class institutes have the career security. But if they are so talented ,Why are they afraid of Facing the competition from Talent outside. DO away with this Placement system , that is based on such unfair and unethical practices and at the same time it also somehow amounts to Lack of research and development initiatives by students , forget the success part of it. Talking about Placement abroad , Many of the world's best campuses are unknown to such phenomenon.Such Organized placements are in a way injustice ( on ground of Equal opportunity)to the education set up of the company.The students are never offered job on campus , they have to visit the Company HR department to face interview so the chances of manipulation and pushing through comes down heavily.
20 Jan 2012, 11.25 PM
Rahul
Interesting views....seems biased as one side of the story has been explored....but is definitely forward looking....cheers to the writers and placement committee members don't worry...u will still have your hands full....this is just load sharing .
21 Jan 2012, 12.23 AM
Neelanjan Sinha
Having spent my MBA days as Placecom guy, was indeed an experience in itself. Certainly there were lot many things which I learnt which but now when I look back and introspect, your points seem very valid to me. I remember how much I used to crib about lack of time and not being able to read magazines,books from our rich library collection. Keeping aside the learning, from the larger perspective also I feel if handled professionally with placement as single job to do , results would be much better. In short, I agree out and out with the article above and feel its high time B-schools in India start emulating this model (Specially upcoming ones which already have a bandwidth constraint on various fronts).
21 Jan 2012, 11.29 AM
Anandh Sundar
Ankit was finally proved correct, as one IIM(Indore) reportedly bites the dust and decides to engage external help. I still don't fully endorse his views, but hats off to him for seeing this trend in advance! <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/iim-indore-seeks-external-help-for-job-placements/articleshow/11622224.cms" rel="nofollow">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-...</a>
25 Jan 2012, 03.10 PM
Student@IIML
I think visitors here and team inside iim should more research rather than believing what is been posted in newspapers. As far as IIML goes, I can certainly say nothing of this sort is even close to discussion.
26 Jan 2012, 09.21 AM
pgp2@iimindore
When originally posted I was a bit unsure about the requirement of CDC for placement purposes. But seeing what is happening in IIM Indore placement right now has convinced me about the stupidity of student run placement committees. One see's rampant nepotism in placommers getting their fellow placommers in the company's shortlist. From making customized GD groups where they are pushed in with people who do not speak much to pushing with the recruiters to select a candidate everything is happening here. Talk to any IIM Indore PGP 2 student off the record he / she will tell you about how a totally unworthy placom candidate was kept on being pushed in so many companies and finally made her clear Vodafone interview. The best part was she was not in the initial shortlist and then suddenly out of the blue by pushing the company you take out an extended shortlist with her name and one other random person to make it look all beleivable. The worst part is where one candidate in the interview was asked the question by the Vodafone reps about what he feels about this pushing being done by the placom. SO in effect placements are a very important issue for anyone who joins a b school. and it has to be done by professionals and not by students who will have a very good likelihood of a selfish motive. This is something that happens across b schools in India whether people admit it or not and its high time placement committees are run by CDC's and students come to b schools to learn something and not to manipulate systems.
30 Jan 2012, 04.32 PM
RDI
Hi guys, Its a very interesting discussion and I would like to add just one point here. Ill reserve my personal views for the time being and just highlight that if a CDC is to work as effectively as mentioned in the original article, it should be implemented across all campuses in a span of 1-2 years. A CDC can be more professional but there are certain advantages to a student run PC. These advantages will be taken up by competing institutes and the CDCs effectiveness will amount to nothing. For example, if one institute uses their alumni to the fullest and the other doesnt (in a CDC scenario), there will be a job loss and deserving candidates of an institute can lose out bcoz we wanted to be ethical( by not pushing alumni). The harsh reality is that its a competitive environment and no student batch in this world would want the PC to be ethical when competing with other institutes. The simple reason being because a PC is elected/selected to bring good jobs on campus. The ethical standard in this scenario will be completely out of the window. Would like to hear your views on that. Would be interesting to read Ankit's view on this.
25 Feb 2013, 12.00 PM
+Read Replies (1)
@ankit9doshi
I don't think having a CDC means alumni will not be used effectively. In fact, most old IIMs have a single person/office who is in charge for quite some time and they are in a much better position to forge long lasting relationships for the institution. Placement committees come and go. These officers stay for at least 3-5 years and are 'supposed' to be on good terms with alumni and important decision makers in companies.In many ways, because of massive batch sizes, the IIMs are already moving towards a Career Development Cell. I'd rather not comment on the Ethics part.
25 Feb 2013, 06.31 PM |
insidenothing
why only have a CDC for placements.. the whole purpose is to make it student driven. by the same logic every event on campus can be outsourced to an event management firm.. y take the pain to get it done by the students. .. and if you havent been part of the plcom you shouldnt be talking about negotiating with companies and fair practices and bla..
18 Mar 2013, 08.11 PM
just saying
If IIM students cannot make this process democratic and accountable enough and have to outsource.. well then they deserve this kind of stuff.. Rather than outsourcing focus on how the committee is selected and what measures can be taken to report and punish the concerned members. Also do understand that CDCs will put equal effort for all IIMs and try to maintain that almost all recruiters recruit from all campus. This is something the older IIMs wont want.. Because it leads to job losses to the newer campuses. The whole idea has come because some newer IIMs havent been able to maintain professional committees like the one at A, B and C
19 Mar 2013, 09.41 PM