Top Recruiters To Step-Up Hiring At B-Schools Despite Slowdown

Undaunted by slow economic growth, top recruiters are preparing to step up hiring from top B-schools, including IIMs, when campus placements kick off from first week of February.

Among Goldman Sachs, Cognizant, Capgemini, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, Citibank and KPMG — all leading recruiters last year — a few are looking to hire 18-100 per cent more MBAs this year, while the rest will hire at least as many as last year.

This spells good news for IIMs, many of which had struggled to place the final lot of students last year due to weak hiring sentiments and large batch sizes.

KPMG is looking to double hiring from B-schools to 200, driven by a need to strengthen presence in advisory. “We are investing heavily to recruit top-end talent across talent pools that are relevant for our businesses,” says Shalini Pillay, head, people, performance and culture, KPMG in India.

Goldman Sachs is planning to increase its B-School hiring by 30 per cent to about 90 professionals this year, according to V Bunty Bohra, CEO for Goldman Sachs Bangalore. Last year, the firm recruited 70 Bschool students and another 45 interns.

It will also double internships this year. “As IIMs attract a pool of some of the brightest, highpotential talent across the country, our hiring from them has increased significantly,” says Bohra.

A number of factors are driving requirement of MBAs this year even though there has been no uptick in the economy: companies are keen to strengthen talent in certain key areas, build business solutions capability and also want to build a strong pipeline for the future.

Besides IIMs which will get into placement frenzy in February, the Class of 2014 at other leading management schools, including XLRI Jamshedpur, FMS, SPJIMR, NMIMS, SIBM and XIMB, will also benefit from the strong hiring outlook.

Many of them are already in the thick of final placements. Last week, ET reported that hiring at non-IIM B-schools was better than anticipated.

Citi India is stepping up hiring by 18 per cent in 2014 by hiring 65 management associates across top Bschools including 25 from the IIMs, according to Kripa Krishnamoorthy, head of talent, diversity and organisation development.

Last year, the bank hired around 55 MBAs across corporate, retail and support functions. IIM hires will comprise about 40 per cent of the associate pool in 2014 compared to 25 per cent last year. In terms of overall campus hiring, it plans to hire over 200 this year. Citi will pay its management associates around Rs 17 lakh, while for businesses like markets and investment banking, entry level talent will be paid up to Rs 35 lakh. Goldman Sachs has offered around Rs 30 -34 lakh in some non-IIM colleges, while ICICI Bank, another active recruiter on campus with 60-70 hires from the IIMs last year, will be offering Rs 12 lakh. The bank will hire the same numbers as last year.

Capgemini too will hire around 140 B-school grads, the number it hired last year. Rajesh Padmanabhan, corporate VP & chief HR officer at the organisation, says it hires for roles like business consulting and risk managers among others. The company may add a couple of new IIMs to its list this year from the six older ones it regularly visits.

Cognizant, the top recruiter last year with over 300 MBA hires, including 75 from IIMs, declined to reveal proposed hiring numbers.

But Sriram Rajagopal, VP-HR, said that while its consulting practice has been the biggest recruiter of management graduates, it now also has several groups within its Emerging Business Accelerator businesses that are looking for MBA talent for their ventures. Consulting firm BCG, which was the top recruiter across IIM-A, B and C last year, may hire marginally more this year, Suresh Subudhi, partner and director, said. BCG hired around 55-56 students across B-schools in 2013. It typically hires students as senior associates while those with over 3.5 years of experience may be taken as consultants.

BCG is also planning to expand the number of campuses it visits this year and is in talks with MDI, SP Jain, JBIMS and NMIMS.

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