Overview and Statistics

The placement season for the academic year 2021-22 saw a slight increase in the percentage of undergraduate students being placed—rising from 91.83% in the previous season to 93.57% in the current one. The English Press Club spoke to Rudhir Mehra, the Pitching Head of the Placement Unit (PU) for Semester II, as well as Smriti Prakash and Saachi Jain, the PU coordinators for Semesters I and II, respectively, about the placements during the academic year 2021-22. 

306 companies visited the campus for placements in 2021-22, which were conducted online. 815 of the 871 registered first degree (FD) students were placed, while 318 of the 376 registered higher degree (HD) students secured placements. In total, 90.86% students secured placements in the mentioned academic season. The overall median CTC was 17.7L, while the average stood at 19.4L. The salary offers ranged from 3.6L to 90L. 

The placement season was preceded by the PU sending forms to gauge the interest of the students and, consequently, inviting companies based on the responses. ‘I think the process was fairly comprehensive to start with,’ remarked Smriti. Following “interest capture”, the PU tried to understand the market scenarios and recruitment patterns of legacy companies before proceeding with pitching to prospective recruiters.

As a result of the placements being conducted online, sourcing and hosting companies was much easier from a logistical standpoint. According to Rudhir, online placements lead to easier accessibility and compatibility with companies that were previously interested but omitted BITS Pilani due to issues regarding its remote location. With all proceedings and notifications completely online, students were more receptive and vigilant of the placement process as it progressed. Both Saachi and Rudhir maintained that upcoming placement seasons would be conducted online in some capacity.

Note that the above data represents the branch-wise breakup and not the sector-wise breakup of offers. For instance, the highest package offered to a person in the Mechanical branch may not be from a company belonging to the mechanical sector. 

Semester-wise difference

Semester I was generally considered to be a heavy IT and ET placement season whereas Semester II placements were more inclined towards non-core roles. Other sectors that saw traction at the HD level were Mechanical, Civil, Pharmacy, and Business Analytics. Semester I also saw heavier placement of HD students. Semester I Practice School-II consisted of a majority of students in the non-core sector and consequently the placement season for Semester II involved more non-core roles as well. According to Rudhir, Semester I placements saw fewer FD students participating as compared to Semester II, with approximately double the students applying in Semester II. With companies beginning to prefer internship-centric models of recruitment, Semester I leaned towards being an ‘internship-heavy semester’ according to Smriti. A relatively high number of Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) were rolled out for internships further emphasising this developing market trend. 

According to Smriti, there was a general trend of students in core branches such as Chemical, Mechanical, and Civil applying for placements in Semester II. However, this year there was a notable increase in students from these branches applying in Semester I. ‘Having said that, the number was still extremely low,’ she added.

While IT companies recruited in both Semester I and II, Rudhir mentioned that students from core branches other than IT and ET would benefit from applying for IT roles in Semester II placements. Due to company ‘biases’, Computer Science and Electronics branch applicants were more likely to get recruited in IT roles in Semester I after completing their summer internships. Conversely, if students wished to explore more options such as a Finance PS, they could apply for placements in Semester II as well.

Core: IT and ET 

IT and ET saw high placement percentages with 211 out of 212 students in B.E. Computer Science (CS), 152 out of 158 applicants in B.E. Electrical and Electronics (EEE), and 100 out of 105 students in B.E. Electronics and Instrumentation (ENI) securing placements. Average CTC for B.E. CS landed at 29L, with a median of 30.3L. Average CTC offers for ENI and EEE were nearly identical, rounding off at 24L and 23.6L respectively.

Companies in IT ranged from legacy recruiters like Google, Microsoft, and Uber to domestic giants such as Flipkart, Myntra, and Meesho as well as up-and-coming startups such as Polygon and Unacademy. Other companies included Cisco, Swiggy, Adobe, VMWare, Tekion, and more. For ET, companies like Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Nvidia, Micron, and Infineon were some of the major players. Startups were heavily successful in recruiting for these roles—Polygon, a crypto giant offered a domestic offer of 90L CTC and Ola Electric alone recruited 56 students from the institute.

While Semester I was an IT and ET heavy placement season, the PU ensured that the students applying for these roles in Semester II had ample options as well. Smriti remarked that it was ‘extremely easy’ to get an IT company on campus because BITSians were an ‘extremely trusted brand’ when it came to IT. When talking about the ET sector, she noted that ET firms preferred to recruit M.E. applicants due to specialisation and high attrition rates of FD graduates and students from BITS. However, the PU ensured during the pitching process that ET companies kept their roles open for B.E. students as well. ‘We tried our best—in terms of pitching—to make sure that companies look beyond these attrition rates and at the quality of candidates, while keeping ET companies majorly open for B.E. students as well.’ she explained.

Core: Mechanical, Chemical, Manufacturing, and Pharmacy

The B.E. Mechanical branch saw 127 applicants of whom 119 were placed. The average package was 16.9L CTC, with the highest package being 40L CTC. This was particularly impressive since production centres—which had shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic—were only just reopening. Hindustan Unilever, which traditionally offers only summer internships, also joined in with placements. Schlumbereger and HQL were other notable companies which offered attractive packages to BITSians. Ola Electric extended offers to 56 students. While some of the offers were for IT roles within the company, they also offered roles in the core mechanical sector with packages of around 16L CTC. 

92 of the 100 applicants in the B.E. Chemical branch were placed with an average package of 15.8L CTC. 36 of the 45 students from the B.E. Manufacturing branch who registered for placements were placed with the average CTC being 15.6L CTC. After a revision of the manufacturing curriculum at BITS, the introduction of newer and more industry-oriented courses has resulted in manufacturing students being eligible for most jobs that were exclusively limited to mechanical engineering students. Rudhir pointed out that students from the manufacturing branch will be able to sit for placement in most companies looking for B.E. Mechanical students as well. 

The general assumption is that B.Pharm students find it hard to get a job. However, ‘the PU strives to give them as many opportunities as possible’, said Rudhir. While many B.Pharm students were placed in core companies like Dr Reddy’s Lab and Cipla—with packages in the ballpark of 7 to 10L CTC—Rudhir said that many also found success in non-core roles. It was also mentioned that companies like IQVIA preferred M. Pharm students. While such companies are often hesitant to hire non-engineers, the PU made the argument that students at BITS who have had the same exposure should be treated equally. Many B.Pharm students also found success in business analyst and product management roles. The average package of B.Pharm was thus 12L CTC. 

Non-core

While companies in the core sector usually look for a specific set of hard skills and have defined tests, companies from the non-core sector have their own metrics. They usually have a variable recruitment process and look favourably on past experience in the same sector. Rudhir said that they look for individuals with great problem solving skills and the ability to break down problems effectively. Particularly for management roles, the ability to structure a plan of action and assign work efficiently are characteristics recruiters look for. Those looking to score product management roles will benefit from internships done in the same field in the past. Banks like ICICI, Axis Bank, and HDFC offered roles of financial analysts giving packages of upto 20L CTC. Groww offered packages of upto 30L CTC. Roles in the field of Application Performance Management at Groww and those as analysts at Wells Fargo were given CTCs of upto 30L CTC. Other companies like Nomura, SaaS Labs, and Accenture all offered non-core jobs with pay in the range of 16–24L CTC. 

Advice for students 

Smriti highlighted that BITSians are often great communicators and intuitive problem-solvers. To complement that, Smriti suggested those sitting for placements to armour themselves with as many relevant skills as possible. She explained that the exposure offered by the institution is unparalleled and urged individuals to ‘be willing to absorb whatever the place has like a sponge’. Smriti also highlighted the importance of self-awareness and reflected that it is important to not only understand one’s capabilities but also acknowledge that what one wants to do and what one is good at doing may not always be the same thing. She stated that, ‘I am a believer in serendipity taking someone where they are supposed to be, so staying calm over the course of this process is important.’

Rudhir suggested that having clarity about what one would like to do enabled them to focus on relevant kinds of skill-building and work experience to gear their CV in the corresponding direction. He also urged students to reach out to people who are pursuing careers that they are interested in exploring, emphasising the usage of LinkedIn and even Twitter for the same. He advised students to prioritise and structure their thinking, especially those looking to get into non-core domains such as Management Consulting or Product Management. He strongly highlighted the importance of taking initiative to figuring out how to differentiate oneself from one’s peers.

Saachi advised students to first be aware of the basics of what the sector requires from them. She explained that while jobs in the IT sector require awareness of DSA and Database Management Systems, jobs in the Consulting sector would require thorough practice of guesstimates and cracking case interviews. She highlighted Project Expository, a PU initiative, which serves as an accumulation of relevant resources for a range of career options.