Wednesday, May 30, 2007

CIHM records high placements

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Chandigarh, May 27: Hotel Management graduates find themselves in a enviable position as job opportunities in the hospitality industry is increasing steadily.

Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management(CIHM), Sector 42, has recorded 100% placements this year. Initially,most students are given stipends of nearly Rs 4000,which is increased after the 6 month training period.The highest pay package worth nearly 3 Lakh per annum was offered by Qatar Airways.

Placement in charge,CIHM , Mohammad Shahid Hasnail says that most enrolled students are mostly from rural background and lack adequate communication skills. “As far as placements are concerned , a great deal depends on the personality traits. Students having a pleasing personality and good communication skills get the best placements ,” he said. Hasnail contends that with a large number of hotels, fast food joints like Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Cafe Coffee Day setting shop in the city Job opportunities are bound to increase manifold .

The Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management(AIHM), Sector 42. also recorded 100 % placements.AIHM Principal Naveen Kumar said that for most trainees,the salaries ranged from Rs Nine thousand to Rs Eleven thousand .Naveen added that job opportunities are bound to increase,once the Commonwealth games are organised in Delhi in 2010.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

B-schools bring big bucks

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Watchdog Bites
• India has 348 universities and 17, 625 colleges, the highest in the world
• In 2005 & 2006, educational institutions spent Rs 3, 174 mn and Rs 3, 655 mn, on ads respectively.
• Parents spend Rs 18, 675 crore of the estimated Rs 37, 675 crore (0.4% of GDP) spent on education annually
• The entrance exam, training market is worth Rs 8,126 million according to industry estimates

Higher education in India is big business today. And this time of the year (April-July), there is frenzied activity in the marketplace with institutions – domestic and foreign – burning serious money in advertising to flaunt their course-ware and attract students from across the country.

The business potential is undoubtedly enormous. Almost 55% of India’s population is below 25 years–the ripe age to enroll for a post-graduate course. And do not underestimate the competition amongst institutions to get these students in. Government statistics show India has 348 universities and 17,625 colleges, the highest in the world.

And in the last couple of years, a large number of universities and colleges from not just the US and the UK, but also from Australia, Ireland, Canada, Russia, France, Germany and Singapore have been very active in India. No wonder, as many as 100,000 Indians go to study abroad every year. Over 300,000 Indian students are enrolled in courses abroad, with the US accounting for 76, 503, Australia 27, 661 and the UK 16, 227 in 2005-06, according to industry estimates.

To get a foothold in the higher education business, institutions spent as much as Rs 317.4 crore towards advertising in the print medium, says AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research. The next year, they hiked their budgets over 15% to Rs 365.5 crore. This was next only to the booming realty business that shelled out Rs 370.5 crore.

In India, more than in most other countries providing education is very important for the middle class, the vast majority. Siddhartha Mukherjee, vice president, communications, TAM Media Research, says matter-of-factly, “Education is booming because parents feel their children need some kind of career specialisation.”

And complementing this desire of parents is the market opportunity for the private unaided colleges. Says Atul Chauhan, chancellor of the Rs 500-crore Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, “Education is among the biggest spenders in print in terms of advertising. They must be spending close to Rs 700 crore a year, mostly in print. And the prime time is April-July when students apply. Hardly any educational institution uses TV as it is used mainly for brand-building. Print advertisement is preferred since it can accommodate lot of information like courses are on offer and how to apply. Radio is very cluttered, though cheaper. Some institutions use it for event-related announcements though.”

Friday, May 25, 2007

IT steals students from core engineering sectors

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Kolkata, May 29: The state’s information and technology sector is growing faster than the national average, attracting a pool of talent from other sectors. However, this trend has left other manufacturng sectors gasping for skilled and quality manpower.

It has been noticed that top scorers at the state’s joint entrance examinations make a beeline for the IT sector, preferring it over other core disciplines like civil, mechanical, electrical engineering etc. IT offers better salaries.

A quick survey of the courses offered in some of the new private engineering colleges show that many have not bothered to introduce departments on core subjects. Among them are the Institute of Engineering & Management and B P Poddar Institute of Management & Technology. It is also seen that those who fare better in the joint entrance exams prefer IT degrees. In 2005-06, students who opted for IT in the MCKV Institute of Engineering & Technology had ranked between 4,443 and 9,430. Those who opted for automobile engineering ranked between 7,290 and 18,942. This, in spite of the fact the MCKV Institute is one the few colleges that offers automobile engineering and that the automobile industry is booming now.

The West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) offers an undergraduate engineering course only in IT. But, in the four other streams of biotechnology, bio informatics, computer science and engineering, natural science, humanities and management, it offers a post-graduate course.
The placement scenario also reflects the skewed demand for education in this course. The undergraduate IT course has 70 seats, of which 51 students were recruited on campus placements in the year 2005-06. In contrast, only 17 students out of 115 in the PG courses (including PG-IT) bagged jobs in the on-campus recruitment drive.

Placement in-charge at Jadavpur University Dr Siddharth Bhattacharya said, “The basic salary for fresh engineers, irrespective of the stream, is an annual pay package of Rs 3.25 lakh in any IT company. That amount is around Rs 2 lakh for a core sector graduate.” Prof Samiran Chattopadhyay of the IT department said there are other factors that prompt students to avoid core engineering courses. He said IT offers better lifestyle, better chances of working abroad and the opportunity of being associated with multinational corporations. At the same time, IT companies like TCS sponsor various events on campus, creating awareness about the company and the scope of work.

Srinil Majumdar, an electrical engineering graduate of the 2006 batch from St Thomas College, said: “The scope in core sectors is limited, the pay is less and opportunities for growth and placements outside the country are fewer.” Majumdar works at Infosys.

Biswadip Gupta, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s eastern region wing, said the biggest challenge for industry is people. “Even if we get people, we are unable to retain them,” he said. Gupta admitted that core engineering sectors have not been able to market themselves well.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Big bucks for fresh grads

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KOLKATA: Even five years ago, no one would imagine that a 21-year-old undergraduate would command a salary package of Rs 4 lakh even before he/she passes out. Now, even ‘ordinary graduates’ from Kolkata are hot picks for top firms like Infosys and McKinsey, who are roping in freshers not by the dozens but by the hundreds.

This year 100 graduates from Presidency College have been offered jobs by corporate houses and St Xavier’s has already managed to place over 250. Scottish Church College, Lady Brabourne College, Bethune College and Ashutosh College have already placed several students — and the placement season is not yet over.

Students are thrilled that a new world of opportunities has opened for them, sparing them the drudgery of going through a masters degree. While St Xavier’s has been routinely holding placements for its graduate students for more than six years now, the others have taken to it over the last three years.

And the phenomenon is still gaining momentum. Even colleges like Lady Brabourne and Bethune, which were somewhat conservative about students getting into jobs right after graduation instead of going for higher studies, have chucked their inhibitions. “Unless one wants to become a teacher, there is no point pursuing an MA or MSc course,”said Ashish Fogla, an economics student of Presidency College, who has just given his part-two exam and has already bagged a job with the Gurgaon outfit of McKenzie with a starting salary of nearly Rs 4 lakh. His classmates Swati Nahata and Chetan have bagged similar offers while a third, Rahul Singhal, has been picked up by Maruti Udyog for a comparable offer for its Faridabad unit.

Google has picked up 12 graduating students from English, economics, sociology and political science departments, whereas Infosys has netted 14 students for its Bangalore office. “We are noticing a marked change in the job scenario. Even two years ago, it was difficult for a fresh graduate to bag a decent job. This year we have had undergraduates hooking jobs that pay over Rs 4 lakh annually,”said Amitava Chatterjee, faculty member and placement cell in-charge of Presidency College.

At St Xavier’s College, where at least 50 graduating students have been offered packages of over Rs 4 lakh per annum, this year’s placements have been much better than expected, said placement cell in-charge, Aniruddha Sinha. McKinsey, which has picked up 12 students, Google (16 students) and Jet Airways (10 students) have made the highest offers.

It’s a boon for students of English, political science, mass communication and BBA. “Though we have not bagged jobs worth Rs 4 lakh, we are happy with our offers of nearly Rs 3 lakh. It is not only the money that excites us, but also the fact that we have been able to start a career without forcing ourselves into higher studies,”said Ankush, Ajay and Kalpana, who have been offered jobs by CTS, ITC Infotech and Future First.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

India Inc makes a beeline for future engineers

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AHMEDABAD: The bond year (2007) is gelling well with starry-eyed engineering graduates of Gujarat. IT companies are picking up engineering passouts from across the state and are offering record packages to boot. Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Google, among others, are vying for candidates. Not only have the highest salaries gone up by 10-15%, the young graduates also have their hands full with multiple job offers. The highest salary recorded at the Faculty of Technology and Engineering of Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Baroda, was from Google. It picked up two students with a package of Rs 7.5 lakh per annum.

Such was the demand from IT companies that the faculty of technology was compelled to advance the placement season from the end of the sixth semester to end of fifth semester for the 2007 batch. The placement and training officer at MSU K Baba Pai is now busy with the placement of the batch that will pass out in 2008. So far eight companies have recruited 78 students from engineering faculty.

“Almost all the engineering students with a first class in their third year and now busy with their final exams for 2007 batch of engineering have been placed. Majority of the students with a second class in the third year have also been placed. We are still expecting 15 to 20 local companies to visit the campus for rest of the students,” Mr Pai told ET. He added the average salary for the students with a first class has nearly touched Rs 3 lakh per annum. Google, Voltas, the Kirloskar Group, L&T group companies, Thermax, Alstom, Mahindra & Mahindra, Gujarat Glass, Bombardier, GSFC, HLL and GHCL are some of the prominent recruiters who visited MSU campus for engineering students for the batch 2007. Diploma students, too, are in demand. Giants like ABB, GEA Process Engineering (I), Raymond, Essar Group, L&T, Aditya Birla Group and Torrent visited the College of Polytechnic of MSU for recruitment.

Things are pretty similar at Nirma University’s Institute of Technology which has recorded highest salary ever. Two engineering graduates of Nirma Institute of Technology have been offered a Rs 6.43 lakh package by Synergy, Hyderabad. This is close to the salaries offered to freshers from the top-notch business schools in the country. The final phase of placements for the ninth batch of B Tech has just concluded, yielding exciting prospects for the Institute’s graduates. A total of 69 companies came vying for students at NIT. Over 90% of the students received offers with an average salary of Rs 2.65 lakh.

According to Sachin Sehgal, placement & training officer NIT, “There is a shift from the IT/ITeS to more diverse work-profiles. A lot of students have opted for core engineering companies for final placements.” The number of core engineering companies scurrying for students was also higher than previous years.” Huge demand was shown by IT companies, with frontline players like HP and Satyam lapping up students in large numbers.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Big churn of B-school grads, not enough talent: report

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A study says only 132 B-schools out of 1,257 produce quality entry-level human assets; and the 20,000 they churn out aren’t enough to meet India Inc.’s requirement of 128,000 executives.

New Delhi: Marketing guru Jack Trout calls it the tyranny of choice. You enter a supermarket and have tens of thousands of products stacked on hundreds of shelves staring down at you, vying for a piece of your mind space. So much to choose from that you don’t know what to buy.

Human resource managers face a similar sort of situation while recruiting for entry-level positions. A report by MeritTrac, a Bangalore-based skills assessment company says the thousands of MBAs churned out by the rapidly mushrooming B-schools often put recruiters in a dilemma, as the sheer numbers tend to cloud their ability to detect and pick up quality.

So if there is a demand-supply mismatch, it isn’t because of the abundance of human assets, but because of the lack of quality. Which, in simple words means that despite the numbers, it is supply that is inadequate.

The report says that even by conservative estimates, India Inc requires about 2,000 CEOs and 8,000 senior managers every year. And assuming a senior to middle manager ratio of 1:4 and a similar ratio for middle to junior managers, the gross requirement of fresh MBA recruits is 128,000.

And with the economy growing like never before, this figure can only go one way – up.

On the supply side, out of the 1,257 B-schools in the country, some 1,125 are rated below average and have to be excluded, while estimating the employable pool of MBAs for managerial roles. From the remaining 132 B-schools, some 20,000 candidates make it to the category of employable and industry- ready ones.

With such a demand-supply disparity and issues of attrition, skyrocketing salaries and a structurally deficient educational system, hiring and retaining quality managerial talent, becomes a Herculean task for the recruiter.

In such a scenario, the report says, recruiters need to screen out unemployable candidates at the very outset.

The MeritTrac report recommends a systematically designed and scientifically calibrated assessment process to ensure selection of the right man for the right job.

The report has found that companies that assess candidates both on job-skill requirement and general attributes such as verbal skills, quantitative abilities, mental application and group interaction are able to eliminate 77% of ineligible candidates at the very outset. In other words, for every 100 candidates that are tested, only 23% make it to the next round.
Against this, companies that focus only on job-based skills send 56 out of 100 candidates to the next level of assessment, making the next step twice as time consuming.

The study also demonstrates the lack of correlation between the number of B-School grads and employable talent. Delhi, with the maximum number of graduates — 12,900 out of 70,000 a year from six hubs – ranked third in terms of the number of recruitments. In contrast, Mumbai, with only 8,100 graduates, had the maximum number of recruits.
Kolkata, with 6,000 graduates, came next, and ahead of Delhi.

The other three hubs, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, fell short of expectations.
In terms of skills, Hyderabad candidates topped on articulation, followed by those Chennai and Mumbai/Pune respectively. Kolkata led the pack when it came to grammar. Mumbai/Pune pupils towered above the rest on assertiveness and confidence while Chennai lagged behind in them.