Wanted: An executive assistant for Mukesh Ambani from IIM-B

BANGALORE: Just two weeks from its final placements, IIM-Bangalore got a last-minute request from an Indian company: if it can be accommodated between consulting and banking moguls that hunt for the best talents on Day 1. A tough ask, but IIM-B had to do its bit since the request came from Reliance Group, and the job involved shadowing its chairman, MukeshAmbani.


The moment word got around, there was a scramble for the job, and 168 students – cutting across finance, HR and marketing profiles– from a batch of 380 applied for it. Money wasn’t the only attraction here, of course.

“The pay will be competitive but that’s not a consideration here. If your resume says that you’ve been an executive assistant to Mukesh Ambani, you can walk into any company, any time later in life,” said a placement team member requesting anonymity.

IIM-B authorities did not want to divulge much.

“Reliance Industries is a regular recruiter at IIM-B campus and we look forward to welcoming Reliance on campus for the placement season for the 2011-2013 batch as well,” Sankarshan Basu, chairperson, career development services at IIM-B, told ET.



“It is also well known that they do come to campus for multiple roles. Beyond that, it’s difficult for me to comment at this stage on two counts: one, it would be unfair to discuss specific roles and related issues in public before the students have had an opportunity to evaluate them, and second, I do not have full information at this stage.”

An email query sent to Reliance Industries on Friday remained unanswered. The selected student is expected to be part of the strategic development team, and will get to interact and learn from business leaders and vertical heads of the company.

In the past, Reliance had hired students for similar mentoring from international B schools, but this is probably the first time that Ambani is keen on hiring someone from a management school, and take him through the steps. The senior Ambani, who is on the board of governors at IIM-Bangalore, has skipped IIM-Ahmedabad and will probably overlook IIM-Calcutta for this exercise.

The initial screening showed that both freshers as well as those with experience were shortlisted for the job. “Around 30 have been shortlisted and it will be further whittled down to 7-8, out of which only 2-3 students will be picked up for the final effort,” said the placement team member quoted earlier.

Placements for IIM-B will start from March 5, and it will be a weeklong process. The best paymasters and international majors will scour the campus for talents, and Reliance will face competition from McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney, Accenture Consulting, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, HSBC Bank, Deloitte Consulting, Nomura and Deutsche Bank.

“A role like this will be great for a student who wants a leadership role and is interested in strategy building. But I doubt if a fresher will give up a high-paying job with Goldman Sachs for this role since there’s a certain amount of vagueness attached to such profiles,” said an ex-IIM-B placement team member, who didn’t wish to be named.