The Hindu Business Line : Global majors at IIM-A for campus hiring

Ahmedabad, Nov. 13 Despite the global slowdown and threat of job losses looming large in the finance sector everywhere, international firms made an appearance at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, to pick students for the summer of 2009.

Firms such as UBS, BCG and Goldman Sachs, among many others, conducted interviews on day zero of the summer placements which started here on Thursday.

“Around 80 companies visit the campus to select students for the summers over a five-day period and it is very crucial for us as it plays a role in our final placements when we graduate,” said a second year student of the Post Graduate Program.

“Last year, more than half the students were selected on day zero itself, but this year, obviously, the picture does not seem that rosy,” he said. But, that many of the investment banks had come, was a good sign, and all the students were hopeful of being placed by the end of the process, he added.

Feedback encouraging

The process of summer placements just having concluded at IIM-Calcutta and Kozhikode, the feedback is encouraging for the students at other IIMs.

“Though the packages might not be comparable to that of last year, we are confident that we will get fair-enough deals and it should not be a case to worry about,” said a student. As of now, there were no signs of students opting out of finance sector jobs, he added, but if that happened, then the students in the marketing sector might have more competition.

“But things might change tomorrow and taking a long term view of the economy, people will go according to the sector that interests them rather than settling for something which might be safe but uninteresting,” he added.

Last year, Goldman Sachs was the highest recruiter, closely followed by Lehman Brothers. Merrill Lynch and AIG were also prime movers of the summer placements. The names of top companies recruiting this year will only be revealed on the 18th or 19th when the placement process will come to an end, said Mr Pratik Ved, Placement Co-ordinator to Business Line.

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