With campus placements becoming tougher due to the slowdown in the global economy, B-school graduates with work experience have a greater advantage than ever over their peers who do not. Leading management colleges and companies say that candidates who know how to meet corporate demands and have latest management skills are given more preference than novices.
“When there are rapid changes in the business environment, companies want people who have the latest skills and corporate experience. They need senior management who can think outside the box and recent MBA graduates with work experience. Give priority, not to the one who completed the degree a few years ago,” said Amit Karna, chairman of PGPX at IIM-Ahmedabad.
PGPX is a one-year full-time MBA program for management executives.
Karna said unpredictability has increased since the pandemic, due to which companies have replaced five-year plans with short-term goals.
Consulting and audit firm Deloitte, one of the top recruiters to Indian B-schools, explains why work experience matters more than ever.
“Employers are becoming increasingly selective in their campus recruitment process and are preferring talent with prior experience due to the global recession,” said Nilesh Gupta, Director, Deloitte India.
“Inclination towards [candidates with] Relevant prior experience leads to better preparation and shorter adaptation period. Our analysis indicates that child attrition (attrition within one year) is lower for talent with experience,” he said.
The analysis he referred to was from the Deloitte Campus study, Placement Cycle 2023, which covered over 150 organizations and 200 campuses in India.
According to IIM-Ahmedabad’s placement data, around 140 students in the PGPX batch of 2023 had work experience ranging from 4 to 16 years, and “recruiters visit the campus to hire candidates for its middle and senior management positions. Did”.
The average take home salary for PGPX graduates in the 2023 batch of IIM-Ahmedabad was around 33.05 lakh including stock options, performance bonus, lump sum payment etc. The average salary for graduates of the two-year MBA program at IIM-Ahmedabad, batch 2023, was not available.
The 2024 batch in business schools is currently in the final stages of the placement season. New subjects at IIM include analytics and digital courses, learning about the collision between different sectors like FMCG and e-commerce and how companies revised their strategies after two years of Covid.
Placement batch profiles on the websites of IIMs in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode show that more than 70% of students have work experience before starting the two-year MBA course. According to recruiters, companies are willing to pay more for experienced candidates with fresh training to deal with the crisis.
Kiran Neti, director of Career Advancement Services at the Indian School of Business, said, “Students with work experience can make quick, data-driven decisions. Companies choose students with work experience because when it comes to understanding and managing a business So they’re very fast.” (Be it).
The College of Management said recruiters want candidates who can provide quick solutions, make quick decisions and implement them. “Having work experience always helps in formulating new strategies,” Neti said.
However, this does not mean that there are no opportunities for newcomers. “Preference for students with work experience varies among recruiters, and [hiring] Does not depend only on this factor. Ultimately, the hiring decision depends on the specific needs and dynamics of each company. “It is about finding the right option for the current circumstances and future objectives of the organisation,” said an IIM Indore official.
The official said that, for example, a mature company may be keen to hire fresh graduates to inject fresh perspectives into its established systems, and a startup with a small team may look to candidates with industry experience for immediate guidance and insight. Can give priority to.
The final placement report for the 2021-23 batch of IIM Indore revealed that about 29% of the students had less than one year of work experience, 40% had one or two years of experience, 25% had two to three. years of experience, and 6% had more than three years of work experience. Years of work experience.
