IIM Calcutta beats pandemic gloom, maintains streak of 100% summer placements

Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta continued its legacy of 100% summer internship placements for its Class of 2022, thereby beating the gloom brought by the pandemic and a subdued economy.

The entire process was completed virtually with the students and corporates participating from their home locations. This is the first time that the institute had to carry out virtual placements on such a large scale.

A total 139 firms participated in the placement process, of which 43 were first- time recruiters to IIM Calcutta, for 473 participating students.

IIM Calcutta director Anju Seth congratulated the team and the students. “The results reinforce the recruiters’ faith in the academic capabilities, diverse student community and IIM Calcutta’s commitment to pursuing excellence in all fields of engagement.”

Here is the hiring trend this year, which like previous years was well- distributed across various sectors.

• Consulting, finance and banking, financial services and insurance: 40% of offers
• General Management and sales and marketing role: 32%
• Operations, product management, e-commerce, and start-ups: 28%

To make the process more student-centric, IIM-C revamped its summer placement structure to comprise of three clusters scheduled on November 23, November 26, and November 28. The clustering was based on the core business competencies of the firm and the cohorts were ranked by student preference.

Cluster 1 consisted of five cohorts, which included top firms in private equity, investments, venture capital firms, management consulting and offers at international locations. A total of 180 students were placed across 35 firms in the cluster, Accenture being the top recruiter with 21 offers.

The second cluster (November 26) hosted 60 firms offering 80 roles in conglomerates, FMCG, consumer services, software services, e-commerce and consumer durables cohorts. A total of 171 students were placed in the cluster with Microsoft bagging the top spot making 11 offers for the PM role.

The third cluster placements were held on November 28 with 44 firms across advertising, BFSI, consulting services, power and utilities, manufacturing, hospitality services, food aggregators, and start-up cohorts. A total of 122 students got placed in this cluster, thereby bringing remarkable closure to the process.

“The pandemic and economic recession had posed unforeseen challenges. It is heartening to see our students and the placement team rising to the occasion to change the systems, enabling all stakeholders to participate virtually, creating multi-layered coordination and communication channels and maintaining positivity throughout the process. I feel satisfied and proud of the team for demonstrating learning on the job, maintaining our internal standards and delivering superlative performance with excellent teamwork. This is what IIM Calcutta education is about. I am very happy for them. Mission accomplished!” Abhishek Goel, chairperson of CDPO, said.

IIM Calcutta encouraged start-ups to participate in the placement process and provide exciting internship projects to its students to uphold its tradition of promoting problem-solving and innovation at the ground level that positively impacts people’s lives.

Sonap Garg, a second-year MBA student at IIM Calcutta, expressed happiness at this initiative, “Start-ups present excellent opportunities for MBA students to test and hone their skills while helping the organisation to grow. The atmosphere is exciting and full of learning. They are fertile grounds to try out new ideas and apply the management concepts we learn in the classroom. These opportunities are stepping stones for many of us who want to be self-reliant and create new jobs in the country.”