Banking sector to provide major employment opportunities

The banking sector in the country is growing at a very good pace and with that this sector is expected to create ample employment opportunities. It the year 2010, the hiring in the banks rose marginally.

The number of bank employees in public and private banks recorded a marginal hike but the foreign banks recorded a fall in their employee strength by 6.22% except Standard Chartered bank. Apart from it the largest lender in the country State Bank of India also registered a fall of 2.79 percent in its head count.

But that was last year, this year various banks have already commenced the recruitment process. More than 5000 posts are expected to be filled up of both officer and clerk grade.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank Mr R Ramachadran said that most of the existing bank staff is about to retire creating a lot of employment opportunities for the youngsters in banking sector. "This would happen at the senior management level as bulk of existing personnel had joined in the 1970s at a junior level and progressed to senior levels. Hence there will be lot of opportunities for the aspirants to get into banking," he said.

About the recruitment in the banking sector Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank Mr. T.M. Bhasin said "There will be more vacancies coming up in the industry sooner than what has been notified till now. This will be driven by large-scale expansion of banking in rural and urban regions, replacement needed in view of the retirements and the rationalisation of operations and staff."

IBM in collaboration with Doaba Group of Colleges organized job fest

In Punjab, Global Technical Leader IBM in association with Doaba Group of Colleges (DGC) organized major employment generation initiative at Campus I, Village Ghataur, PO Allapur, Tehsil Kharar, Distt. Mohali.

This is the only one placement fest was organized by the world IT leader in Punjab.

The placement fest got a very good response as from the engineering graduates over 7000 aspiring engineers turned up for interviews for various posts in the company. The placement fest was inaugurated by Harcharan Singh Bains on behalf of the the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, Dy. Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, entire cabinet and Government of Punjab.

The Chief Minister sent his blessings for the large number of deserving, desiring and eligible engineering graduates who had come to placement fest. It was expected through such job fest will maximum number of eligible candidates will get absorbed by big companies.

During the inauguration of fest Harcharan Singh Bains had congratulated DGC for inviting such a reputed company for placement, which he stated is an honor. He gave blessings to Doaba Group of Colleges on behalf of Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal and Dy. Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The company started the recruitment process with the pre-placement talks followed by aptitude test, group discussion and final interviews. There were HR and technical rounds of interview. On behalf of IBM Maoj Srivastava said, the company is looking for the students for the post of software trainees, web designer, business analyst, search engine optimizer and other technical jobs.

IIM graduates PPOs offer jumps to Rs 18-30 lakh per annum

This year the pre-placement offers (PPOs) for final year management graduates of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) has jumped to Rs 18-30 lakh per annum in comparison to last year’s average of Rs 8-12 lakh per annum, as many multinational firms are hiring new talents as they see revival in their businesses.

One of the IIM officials informed, “Students who already have many years of experience have got PPO packages of Rs 30-40 lakh per annum. We expect people with more work experience to get Rs 50 lakh per annum during the final placements.” Some of the IIM students told ET in most of the IIMs the number of PPOs for the 2008-2010 batches has already reached to 50-60, except IIM-Shillong as it has only 63 students. According to IIMs during the final placement in March 2010 the PPOs will be double.

An IIM-Ahmedabad official said, “This year, investment banks seem to be keen on final placements too. We are clearly seeing an uptick in the market, but at the same time this is just cautious optimism.” He added, “We are not taking it easy and are reaching out to more MNCs than before.”

Some of the global consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte and AT Kearney, besides technology companies such as Huawei, Intel, Dell, Pfizer, HP and Google have also shown interest in participating during the final placements next year.

Thus, this year India’s premier business schools is expecting a good part of their campus placements from companies such as P&G, Diageo, HUL, City Bank, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Barclay’s, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland and public sector banks. According to sources such companies have already started offering lucrative PPOs or are having talks with IIMs for hiring.

However few students are opting to graduate in finance. For instance, from the Harvard Business School only 28% of its 2009 graduating class is taking up career in finance. As per school statistics, around 40% of the 2008 students pursued careers in finance and over 20% opted for consulting career. David A Garvin, a C Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School said, “Now, there is fall in the number of students pursuing these domains. Students are taking up operational roles, line management and entrepreneurship.”

After getting cue from the global peers, IIMs have also started working in this direction and are searching new roles in sectors such as healthcare, pharma, telecom IT, real estate, media, PSUs, education, energy, logistics and entrepreneurship, IIM Shillong chief corporate relations and external affairs Arijit C Majumdar said.

IIM Bangalore second-year student Vineet Sharma, a marine engineer, told he is looking for the role in general management and might join his own business venture called Oilfield Warehouse and Services (OWS), as his organization is planning for an international expansion in Middle East and Africa and Singapore. While IIM Lucknow second-year student told he is interested in sales and marketing in the pharma industry.

Chirantan Shah, a placement committee representative at IIM Kozhikode said this year most of the students are showing interest to join start-ups as they know it is a great learning process to attain knowledge of multiple roles such as equity, marketing and sales.

Hariharan Sriram, the external relations secretary at IIM Calcutta, told students are now showing interest in domestic opportunities as well as to work in countries in South East Asia which have better economic outlook.

PSBs to visit top B-schools again for recruitments

Last year during the placement season the public sector banks (PSBs) were able to snare management graduates from top business schools such as the Indian Institutes of Management, therefore getting motivated from the last year decision the PSBs have decided to go for aggressive campus recruitment this year.

Bank of Baroda chairman and managing director MD Mallya said, “We have had a fantastic experience last time when we recruited from the top management schools in the country. The quality of talent was extremely good”.

Earlier this year during the placement season in March the bank had hired around 200 students from various B-schools, including the IIMs, this year also bank has decided to hire around 350 students. He added, “We are looking to add talent to facilitate our expansion plans and plan to hit the campuses soon”.

In fact PSBs decision to hire students from IIMs and other B-schools is basically its necessity and not just out of craze. Approximately 40 per cent of their workforce, around 8 lakh people are going to retire in the next two years, therefore PSBs are ready for large-scale recruitment drive. Banks will be hiring at all levels and for this they have decided to visit B-schools as well.

Bank of Maharashtra CMD Allen Pereira stated, “We will hire in sizeable numbers and will visit management schools during the upcoming placement season. But not all the positions that fall vacant will get filled up as some jobs get eliminated as a result of improved technology over the years”.

In the last year placement season, the bank had hired from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, among others.
United Bank of India CMD SC Gupta informed his bank is looking to hire around 1,700 people in the next one year at all levels and for this it will be visiting management schools such as XLRI. On the other hand UCO Bank has decided to visit IIMs and other B-schools this year to hire around 100 MBA graduates.

In the last placement season more campus recruitment was done by PSBs mainly because several foreign banks, affected by the global credit crisis and the recession in the West, did not visited Indian B-school campuses. The position of private banks in India was somewhat similar to as foreign banks.

Many job seekers are giving preference for PSBs over private banks may be because of challenge of working in a public sector company or the due to job security in the an uncertain world.

According to government data, last year there has been decline in the number of students being recruited by MNCs from IIMs it was as much as 45 per cent. in 2009 placements MNCs hired around 497 students from six IIMs as against 920 a year before.

Even in the salaries there was a major change, as most of the IIMs witnessed decline of up to per cent in average salary offers.

IIM Calcutta external relations secretary Paul Savio pointed out, “Last placement season, the decision to join PSBs may have been guided due to lack of opportunities from MNCs. But this year too, many students are interested in joining PSBs and other such enterprises. This is even as the economic situation has improved”.

Summer placements bring cheers at IIMs campuses

The summer placements have brought cheers in the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs). Banking and financial sector companies have started hiring for summer internships which is likely to improve the final placement process in the campuses.

The summer placement provides the opportunity to the first year post-graduate students to work for nearly two months during summer 2010 with companies that give them offer.

For the meantime all the IIMs have maintained that happy days are returning although placement scenario is yet to achieve the 2007 levels when the growth was at its peak. However there has been improvement this year in comparison to the earlier year 2008 when companies stopped hiring which created vacuum in students life with no hopes and no where to look for jobs due to the Lehman Brothers collapse and the economic slowdown that followed (the IIMs had also extended the closing dates for placements last year).

IIM Ahmedabad has completed its summer placement process four days record time this year, on the other hand relatively smaller IIM Kozhikode too has been able to engross the process in eight days with the highest stipend offer at Rs 1 lakh. Although other IIMs have started the process later but are expecting to close the season within a week.

Last year when there was crash of global banking and financial sectors, the IIMs mainly focused on tech service firms to look for job opportunities for their students. But this year, the IIMs have witnessed a return of all their regular information technology (IT) and IT consulting firms. Also this year the IIMs and start-ups have witnessed coming of non- government-organizations (NGOs) and sports-based companies showing interest.

IIM-Kozhikode (IIM-K) has too witnessed visit of new sectors in micro-finance and NGOs. “These can add up to nearly 15 per cent of the placements,” said Rohan Jaikishen, placement committee member, IIM-K. IIM-Lucknow placements chairman, R L Raina, says: “The offers are expected to rise. This is a sign of economic growth.”

The students of batch 2009-11 of IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) had a sigh of relief after over 150 of a total of 315 students have got placed for the summers by the end of second day. This year marketing has been the hot favorite with some of the most sought recruiters such as Diageo (of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Guinness fame), Nokia and Coca Cola. The finance sector has been the top pick with 44 per cent of IIM-A students opting for roles in finance, investment banking, private equity, corporate banking and treasury roles. The marketing sector captured 18 per cent share with positions in sales and marketing management, branding, business development and marketing research. Next came the consulting and general management domains followed by IT, at 11, 18 and 9 per cent, respectively.

However IIM Kozhikode (IIMK), has been able to capture 100 per cent summer placements for its 2009-11 batch in eight day process with 120 firms making offers to the 309-strong batch.

This year big global groups such as Arthur D Little, KPMG, Hewitt, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank, HUL, Pepsico and Colgate Palmolive had participated in the placements. The highest stipend offered this year has been over Rs 100,000 inclusive of perks and allowances. Keyoor Purani, chairperson placements, IIM-K said, “The participation of new recruiters in the emerging fields of media, sports management, hospitality and NGOs is indicative that our students are also willing to explore new avenues”.

For the time IIM-K has got as many as 40 firms including Biocon, Astra Zeneca, Singapore-based Tolaram group and Dubai-based Gargash Insurance have recruited summer interns.

IIM-Calcutta has also witnessed the same scene. On day 1 around 90 students got placement. This year there are 408 students of IIM-C for placement which is around 100 more than last two years. This year Morgan Stanley has recruited from IIM-C, exclusively for its London desk. This year absence of Lehman Brothers was not felt, as Nomura the firm that took over Lehman gave five offers to the students. The banks have given offers in investment banking divisions, global markets, equity research, sales and corporate banking.

Whereas at IIM-B summer placement process started on Friday with 15-20 companies visiting campus on day one of slot zero, most popular slot of placement. In other business schools the investment banks and consultancies formed the bulk of recruiters offering both domestic and international offers. Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM Bangalore (IIM-B), said, “Initially, the institute was apprehensive about placing 350 students this year as compared to 267 last year but the response of recruiters has been very encouraging.”

Though officially nothing has been disclosed but average stipends are understood to be marginally higher than last year as are the number of offers. Also recruiters like RBS, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, BCG, UBS etc are expected to visit the campus.

However last year around 85 students from IIM-B got the international offers among the highest across the IIMs and the number is likely to increase this year also. IIM-Indore too, has witnessed summer placements and the institution will be giving details only after the completion of the process.

Indian job index increased by 4.1% in September

In India the job index has moved up by 4.1% in September. According to Naukri JobSpeak, job index, there has been increase of 4.1% in September in comparison to August. As per the three-month average the job index has moved up from 715 in August to 719 in September this year as the hiring activity has picked up among Indian companies. In April – May this year the job index was as low as 664.

The hiring has moved up in all experience levels, thus the highest growth in hiring for freshers and trainees has increased by 39%. According to the report consisting data of 41 industries has illustrated a positive trend in September across sectors and cities. As per report across 14 industries it was a double-digit increase in hiring activities while in 13 sectors it was a single-digit increase and 11 functional areas indicated a plunge.

Last month the hiring in ITeS and BPO services increased by 18.3 per cent as compared to August. Even the real estate and retail sectors bounced back, showing an increase of 36.8 and 12.2 per cent, respectively, but were still far away from August 2008 levels.

Out of the top 13 cities, an upward trend was seen in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi-NCR, the hiring was at 9, 8.4 and 3.5 per cent, respectively. While the smaller cities of Ahmedabad and Vadodara saw a double-digit growth rates at 11.8 and 12.5 per cent, respectively.

Hitesh Oberoi, director and COO of Info Edge, which operates Naukri.Com told, "The secular trend is positive across sectors. Had it not been for an early festival season, we may have seen a further improvement in the index. The good news is that the IT and BPO sectors — which are big employers, especially at entry and junior levels — seem to be in positive territory after a long time".

But there has been decline in the hiring activity in the sectors of banking & finance and oil & gas. The drop was by 6.5 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively, in September in comparison to the previous month.

IIMs getting PPOs from companies

Similarly to the IITs the students of Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) are also getting pre-placement offers (PPOs), defeating the fear of hiring freeze by companies.

In June and July this year few of IIM students received PPOs which confirmed companies are opening hiring.

IIM-A placement committee media co-coordinator Vivek Jain told, “While the early PPOs were extended primarily by consulting firms, now investment banks and private equity firms, too, are offering PPOs”. “Many of the offers are for international roles in places like Europe, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong. We expect many more PPOs in the coming days.”

The IIM campuses have started receiving PPOs the students hopes are getting high and it is being hoped that the coming placement season will turn out to be a better one than last year, as B-schools had to struggle hard to get job offers for their students.

B-schools refused to share the numbers, ET reporter tried to get the flow of the PPO atmosphere it moved around the campus and quizzed students, teaching staff and sources across campuses.

By July earlier this year batches across IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta had received PPOs close to 7-10%. Now the figure has gone up by anywhere between 15-20% in these institutes.

As compared to July earlier this year, when close to 7-10% of batches across IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta had received PPOs, the figure has gone up by anywhere between 15-20% in these institutes. Other IIMs like Lucknow and Kozhikode, too, are also getting a much better flow of job offers as compared to the past year.

For instance IIM-A, till now has received around 60-70 PPOs, students at the campus informed ET. The institute's placement committee however did not revealed any official figures, but the students at the campus have confirmed that after a long break in August, during the past six weeks the job offers have started pouring in.

Some of the companies who have given job offer to students at IIM-A include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, HUL, P&G, UBS and Citigroup. Last year in mid-September only 20% of the batch of 250 students had got PPOs. This year the size has increased to 300 students.

Similarly IIM-B also refused to give any official PPO numbers, but a student keeping track of development told the institute has already got around 50 such offers. As the placement representative at the institute was not in the campus for comment.

The placement circles at IIM-C informed that the PPOs are lesser during this time in comparison to the past year. The rise is expected only in the next couple of months.

“Apart from firms from sectors like finance, consulting, marketing and general management, IIM-C has also got PPOs from a few IT companies and Wall Street Banks,” said IIM-C external relations secretary Paul Savio. “Markets are definitely picking up and we are expecting a better Placement 2010.”

At IIM-K there is a 30-40% increase in the number of PPOs as against to the past year. The other institutes are keeping the exact numbers under covers. The placement committee member, Rohan Jaikishen, informed the number of verbal confirmations which they are getting from companies is also in double digits. “The concrete offers have started coming in from the beginning of September and the companies that have made offers include ITC, American Express Bank and Futures First,” he added.

Last year, only 20 PPOs were offered at IIM-K. The batch size at IIM-K is 308. Mr Jaikishen informed that PPOs till now at IIM-K had mainly come in the financial sector, and the marketing companies visit campus in a close second.

Likewise, IIM-L placement chairman Prof RL Raina informed the companies have sent PPOs to at least 10% of the current batch students at IIM-L. While the current batch size at IIM-L is 320. “This number is quite significant since IIM Lucknow has the largest batch size across all IIMs,” he said. He is also expecting rise in the number in the coming weeks.

Prof Raina, international consulting and finance firms said, “like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, JPMorgan, besides marketing majors like Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Diageo, have already confirmed PPOs”. “Tata Administrative Services is another company that has offered job offers at IIM-L with companies operating in the renewable energy space also showing keen interest in IIM Lucknow students,” he added. Watching the trend, Prof Raina also sees 2010 as more promising than the previous year.

In spite of extended placement process last year, IIMs had to struggle with a heavy baggage of reasonable salaries and less number of job offers. This year although most of the institutes are keeping their placement season open much beyond the usual timeframe as the job-engine taking up larger portion once again.