weIncreased intake of students is set to inflate Placement Unit’s workload in the near future. To prevent an unemployment crisis before it materializes, Internship Season has been introduced by the PU. 100-150 Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) would help decrease pressure on the placement season.

A well established concept in the IITs and the NITs, Internship Season has been introduced relatively late in BITS. Pre-final year students get a chance to approach companies for internships and simultaneously understand what placement season will be like. Day-wise system has been set up, similar to the placement season, with different companies being allotted slots on different days based on package offered, sector, etc. PU called companies, chalked out details and acquired internship documents for all applicants – totally revamping the formerly disorganized system.

PU reached out to a large network of companies. Companies sent their student eligibility criteria in advance, including CGPA cutoffs and branch preferences, among other factors. This was followed by aptitude tests, group discussions and/or interviews on campus for the final selection. The PU, on its part, reached out to the HR department of these companies, requesting them to relax their criterion in order to maximize number of students eligible for internships.

The programme offers a great deal of flexibility. Students decide which companies they’d like to apply to. However, once an internship offer has been made, the student cannot reject it. In extreme cases, students may rescue themselves from the process, perhaps by landing an off-campus thesis in a prestigious institute.

535 integrated first degree students and 336 higher degree students registered this year.  Since a lot of companies offer internships with an intention of converting these interns into employees, only pre-final year students were allowed to register for the internship season. The number of students seeking internships was also lesser because several people were seeking an off-campus thesis instead.

“If the students perform extremely well, we try to showcase that along with the talent pool in our college, students’ achievements, etc. and try to convert them into placement companies. For example, Tower Research was happy with our students’ performance in internships and is going to come for placements too. We aim to convert Facebook (London), the only overseas internship, into a placement company,” said the Internship Season coordinator, Aditya Relhan.

For IT companies, the conversion rate from internships to PPOs is a decent 40-50%. This year there were about 60 PPOs in all branches combined. Next year the PU hopes to double this number as direct result of the internship season.

The average offer made was around ₹15,000-20,000 per month for core companies. For IT companies, the stipends ranged from ₹50,000-I,00,000. The highest offer made was by Facebook (London), who selected only one student, offering her £4,400 per month.

The primary issue in setting up the internship season was that its entire burden fell upon the PU, who also had to organise and manage the placement season. Having to juggle these two separate responsibilities, along with sitting for placements themselves, is a considerable challenge for this small team of students. Lack of assistance by faculty members is an another hindrance. “Honestly, there is not much support from the Institute in this process. In IITs, professors pitch companies, call them and use their contacts. But here in BITS, the placement manager and assistant placement manager with a team of students handle the entire process. Efforts to include professors in the process have been made but we have not received much help,” Relhan lamented.