Day 1: Tears, cheers flow freely during Symbiosis placements

PUNE: The drama was no less than a wedding or a reality show. While girls were busy arranging their sarees and managing the trays full of fruits and juices for their prospective employers, some boys were on the verge of a nervous breakdown as they were not shortlisted by their favourite companies.

There was sobbing, when candidates were upset over their performance in a group discussion, and there were cheerful faces, of those who got plum offers. There were also those who were in a quandary over which offer to accept. This was the scene at some of the management institutes on Day One of the placement season.

The campuses were bustling with activity as students discussed the size of the package, job profiles, the best pay masters and, of course, who got through. Some were busy making frantic phone calls to friends in other campuses to check the packages being offered there, while others consulted their professors on which offer to consider.

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) placed its entire batch of 143 students within six hours on the first day of placements, with an average pay package of Rs 8.4 lakh. Symbiosis Centre for Human Resource Development saw a slew of companies, including ITC, Booz Allen Hamilton, JP Morgan, IBM and Dell, coming to their campus on the first day.

“This year has been exceptionally good for us. On the first day, the highest offer was Rs 14 lakh, while the average package crossed Rs 8.25 lakh. We have already got a foreign placement with a package of $85,000. Though freshers are getting offers as management trainees, one student has been offered the post of treasurer to manage an equity index for JP Morgan,” said Subramaniyam, director, SCMHRD.

The companies are not complaining either. Some were looking for assistant managers, while others were going for ‘vitality hires’, an IBM term for management trainees. “We are recruiting for the post of assistant branch manager. Although it does not matter whether the student is a fresher or a lateral, we are looking for the maturity and quality suitable for the job,” said Aditya Sandhu, assistant manager, ITC.

saket.ambarkhane@timesgroup.com