Every year, as all of us have seen, the placement seasons at the IIM’s has been a rush race of all those who are involved. The students at each IIM try very hard to outdo one another and the institution and the companies use it as a benchmark for greater excellence. The IIM’s uses quite a few factors as to determine which institution, on an average performed better.

The Slot Zero Figure is one of the determinants. The slot will assess the institutions on the basis of most popular companies coming in, the total days the entire placement process was carried out for etc. Some other criterions include international placements, lateral placement of the students etc. The main and the all – important factor is the prominent spawn pay packets.

Placement Seasons at the IIM’s

A few years back, the IIM- Bangalore has resolute from the public disclosure of the student’s salaries. This was mainly indented to protect the privacy of the students. The IIM’s officials have also focused the light, by saying that they don’t want to give prominent importance to the salaries each of their students are going to receive. The media and newspaper are more into reporting about the huge pay- packages which the fresher’s having less than 2 years of work experience are pair. This kind of publicity was affecting inversely on the image of the management education and the purpose of the B-schools.

Most of the IIM’s do not publicize the pay packages. Many of these institutions have also blocked putting a face to the pay. The reports made by the media about the pay packages of IIM students are more or less unclear and unsubstantiated. It is seen that the media have an unrighteous fascination with the pay packages of the IIM’s and not the management of the institutions. The management of the IIM’s only wants the students to be in a better position and this idea has not subjugated the institutions discourse on jobs or placements.

The IIM-A had decided to opt out from the ferocious placements battle which is showing its toll on the student’s performance. Instead of its usual placement routine the IIM-A have institutionalized a method called the cohort-based system. In this system the previously mentioned Slot Zero Figure criterions will not be applicable. The cohort-based system facilitates an option for the companies visiting the campus on the weekends and takes longer duration. The companies from various clusters in their profile like consulting, finance or investment banking. The placement process is carried out over a month’s time and this helps the students to be ate an ease.

A fresh twist to the old practice

As each IIM’s has their own way, the IIM-B has only opted out from the number game in a minor way. The institution has decided to set the total number of placement days in advance.  In the year 2010, the placements were completed in 5 short days and in the year 2011 the number of days has gone above 10 days. This difference was also an impact of the job market condition at that point of time. This new pre-fixing of dates has proven to be a complete success as the entire process went on a relaxed rate of knots.

Job market condition and Placements

In most of the IIM’s, this year the Slot Based system was also taken apart. The recruiters were clustered in to various slots according to the company’s demand of the students. There were some sorts of prioritization in the system, but the rigorous process was eliminated. This has helped the students as well as the companies. Students felt the placement process more stress-free and the companies didn’t have to fight with each other fiercely for the top students. The institutions also found this process effective as they didn’t find it hard to please them all.

An outlook of a typical placement process

In the Slot Zero placement process around 30 or more companies come for placement and the students have to make an on the sport decision regarding which companies they are attending for the interviews. This is a very difficult process for the students as it is a huge career turning point for them. Students were not able to have enough breathing space as to think their decisions over and again. This resulted in the denying of appearing in multiple interviews and having an option to choose between jobs.

Changes bought in the IIM- B’s Placements

The placement processes were separated into two. As the interview took place, parallel to this the students were permitted to take a shot from first to last in a day. The pressures on the students to select the companies were lifted and were given as much time they required for summing up their decisions.  In the previous system, each and every student was racing against the closing date to complete placements and also to look superior on the evaluation charts. This resulted in students being constantly under pressure to finish quickly.

In the year 2011 all the students who appeared in the placement process got an offer. Out of this over 100 students who had previous work experience were placed in advance through the lateral placement process.

Placement process of other IIM’s

IIM-Ahmadabad had successfully finished off its placement process nearly in the beginning of March. The IIM-A had commenced its placement process in the mid of February. The processes were separated into four sections which were held on four days. This year’s placement processes were very successful and every one of the students has been recruited.

Some of the IIM’s like the IIM – Calcutta has continued with the slot-zero placement process. The IIM-C has completed its placement process in a total of five days and was successful in placing all its students. The IIM-C slot zero was from 90 to 139.

IIM-Kozhikode with its traditional approach saw a growth in the number of offers from 265 last year to 305 this year. IIM- Indore also draped its placement with an increase of offers from 235 to 241 this year.  The new IIM’s are still in their placement process and is slowly picking up their pace.