Note: Tap your cursor on the pie charts and bar graphs to get the exact numbers and percentages. The data published here is for the January 2020 to May 2020 placement season. There were delays from the Placement Unit’s end in providing the data, due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The placement season for the second semester of the academic year 2019–20 saw an increase in the percentage of students placed—jumping from 79.8% to 92.8% for undergraduate students—with the absolute number of students placed also registering a marginal increase as compared to the previous semester. While there was a drop in the number of Computer Science (CS) students sitting for placements, other branches saw an increase in the number of students registering. The EPC spoke to Parth Goyal, the Pitching Head for the second semester of the 2019–20 season, to get an idea of how the PU handled placements under the looming threat of a pandemic-induced lockdown.
The PU shortlists companies to call based upon a number of parameters. These include the size of the company, their reputation, and their past relationship (also called their “legacy”) with the college. Start-ups are further judged on their funding portfolio, their product, and their potential. The shortlisted companies are then pitched, and negotiations regarding matters such as Cost to Company (CTC) and company requirements take place. The allotment of days to the companies are based upon how they measure up to these criteria, with companies that score better being placed higher up in the placement calendar.
Parth said that when the campus closed down in the middle of March, 50 students were yet to be placed. In addition to this, several students also saw their job offers revoked. To help these students out, the PU revised their pitching strategy and targeted more companies than they had initially planned to. The BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA) also pitched in and created a portal on their website to connect students with alumni in other companies to aid with the students’ placements.
There was an increase in the number of companies from the mechanical and manufacturing sector. The PU had undertaken a survey earlier in the semester to gauge the types of jobs students were aiming for. Several students showed an inclination toward pursuing core jobs. Based on this feedback, the PU changed its pitching strategy and targeted more core companies. Incidentally, the highest CTC, 40.33 lakhs, was offered by Daikin—a company in the mechanical sector. [Addendum: It must be noted that Daikin’s offer was for an IT role in manufacturing, open for A4, A7, A3, and A8 students, and the posting was in Belgium.] The average package for the sector stood at 13 lakhs. Notably, ISRO came for placements for the first time and recruited four students.
The chemical sector saw a continued decline in job offers. Students appeared to be less inclined toward building a core chemical profile. In addition to this, companies were not happy with the knowledge of the students applying for these jobs. The highest package in the sector was 8.5 lakhs, and the sector registered an average of 7.25 lakhs, down by almost three lakhs as compared to the previous semester.
The non-core sector saw an increase in the number of job offers made. Parth attributed this to the rapid development of fields such as product management, marketing analysis, and business analytics. These fields require a strong knowledge of data analysis and visualisation tools like SQL, Python, Excel, and Tableau. Seventeen analytics companies offered jobs, and the sector saw an average salary of 15.32 lakhs. The average package for the consulting sector stood at 11.03 lakhs.
While the average salary for the IT sector dropped compared to the first semester, this was attributed to the fact that the placements in the first semester were more IT-focussed and therefore, a larger number of CS students sat for placements in that semester.
The PU shifted from their original set of companies for the 2019–20 season. One of the reasons for this shift was to accommodate emerging start-ups, such as Cred and Udaan, that are well funded and are willing to offer large CTCs. The other reason was that the IITs conducted their placements earlier than usual. This led several companies that frequented BITS for recruitments to fill their requirements with the IITs instead. As a result, the PU had to revise its pitching strategy and market research to target other companies leading to a larger number of banks being called. Banks like Wells Fargo and Axis Bank came in for the first time. Wells Fargo offered a package worth 20 lakhs.
Parth said that almost every company has a CGPA shortlisting criteria. In addition to this, most companies also seek relevant skills pertaining to the sector. For example, the most sought-after sector, IT, requires a strong knowledge of courses like Data Structures and Algorithms and Object-Oriented Programming. Companies also look for relevant projects in the field. For a non-core field like analytics, companies expect candidates to have a solid grasp of data visualisation tools and to be good at working on case studies. Most core companies seek students who know their fundamentals in the course and can demonstrate an ability to apply them to their job. In a nutshell, companies seek out students who have a good resumé and have acquired skills relevant to the job that they are seeking. Thus, it is imperative that students do their prior research on the job profile they are applying for.
