Slowdown blues hit B-schools

The slowdown and financial services turmoil notwithstanding, management consulting, banking & insurance, FMCG and investment banking are the top placement choices for final year students from premier Bschools. The slowdown, however, has affected placement prospects.

A recent poll conducted among among 397 students at premier Bschools in the NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore and Bhubaneswar by staffing company TeamLease Services and management portal MBAUniverse.com came up with these findings.

A majority of those polled (60 per cent) feel that the slowdown will have some impact on their placement prospects while 30 per cent foresee the BFSI sector losing sheen. Subsequently, the management consulting, FMCG, telecom, retail, diversified and manufacturing sectors stand to gain talent, feel students.

Interestingly, it is still “India shining” for B-School students with 71 per cent of those surveyed preferring to work in India. Europe is a distant second with 11 per cent opting for it as a work location of their choice. The US, clearly, has lost its lustre with a meagre 9 per cent choosing it as their preferred work destination.

Gearing up for a crash course
• Only 35 per cent of the surveyed have pre-placement offers (PPOs)
• Majority of those polled expect salary between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 15 lakh
• McKinsey most favoured company for placement followed by Hindustan Unilever and Boston Consulting Group
• B-school grads feel the meltdown will impact their placements.

—Saumya Bhattacharya