Placement fever at IIM-B

BANGALORE: It is that time of the year when students at the Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore (IIM-B) look forward to getting their dream jobs with huge pay packets. Starting from February 18, the placement  season this time will have a new avatar. Unlike previous years, the placement process will follow a new format, wherein placements will be conducted over the weekends only, thus bringing an end to the week-long rush for both  students and potential  employers.Speaking to Express, IIM-B Head of Career Development Services (CDS) Sapna Agarwal said that the move was aimed at relaxing the process of placements by stretching it across a few months. “This is the first time we are conducting placements only on weekends. We were contemplating this idea for some time now, after we did a trial-of-sorts during the last summer placements with a one-day break,” said Agarwal.“The move has been welcomed by both students and companies. The intention here is time-distribution, which will see placements happening over a period of time providing respite to students and the visiting companies,” added Agarwal.Starting from February 18, every consecutive weekend at the IIM-B will see companies visiting the campus, conduct interviews and tests to pick the best candidates suitable for the job profiles. This process will break for a week or two in March, when final year examinations will be conducted. Then, the process will be continued until the entire batch of 350 is placed.Over the last couple of years the IIMs have been revamping their placement process. IIM, Ahmedabad, for instance, had shifted to a cohort-based process two years ago, where companies were classified according to their profiles or the fields they deal with. “For now, weekend placements is the only change. We have not classified companies according to their profiles,” said Agarwal. With speculation doing the rounds that the current economic conditions may affect placements for MBA students, sources at IIM-B have stated that this year’s placements will be ‘positive’.One faculty member here said, “The pre-placement offers are comparable to last years record, and given summer placements were good there does not seem to be much reason to worry.”