The placement scenario on the campus has been riddled with uncertainty, with the student talent pool getting shuffled, erratic hiring processes of companies, and a perpetual state of precariousness as to what comes next. The English Press Club recently interviewed Aditya Soni, Placement Unit Coordinator for the semester, to get an insight into the current placement scenario and clear up some of the many common doubts of the general student body.

Aditya was asked to highlight some of the key differences in the placement scenario before and after the pandemic. He explained that students with a CGPA around 7 or below were unable to properly appear for placements this semester. This was because typically, the section of students with a higher CGPA usually stay back on campus during the odd semester. This gives students with comparatively lower CGPAs six months to develop and hone their skills during PS-II while simultaneously improving their CGPA.

Students with summer internships, who are ordinarily required to stay on campus in the odd semester, generally opt for IT and ET companies during placements, usually getting placed with relative ease. They are joined by a few students from non-circuit branches who are also interested in applying for non-core jobs. Aside from IT and ET companies, core companies like ExxonMobil for Mechanical also came to campus this semester.

However, this time, the talent pool ended up getting ‘shuffled’. Summer interns were allowed to register for PS-II in the odd semester. Therefore, a portion of students who would ordinarily have attended PS-II in the first semester had no choice but to sit for placements because of the limited seats. Hence, they were at a disadvantage as they were competing against their peers with a relatively high CGPA. Further, the PS-II timings clashed with quite a few students’ personal schedules, which led to general discontent among the lower-CGPA group of students. 

This, Aditya said, was a huge challenge for the PU to tackle. Not only did they need to invite new companies, but also negotiate with the attending firms to be open to other branches and lower the cutoffs for application.

With regard to the start-up scenario, Aditya said that there is a lot of homework done by the Placement Unit before inviting start-ups. This is to reduce the possibility of ‘offer-revoke cases’ a year or two into the future after hiring, keeping in mind the volatile nature of start-ups.

Coming to the companies, Aditya mentioned that Atlassian and Pensando Systems were new to hiring from the campus. Yellow Messenger and Tata AIG were also two well-known companies that had come for hiring from the campus this semester. He also stated that Air Asia was planning to come later and that talks were underway with them.

When asked about any projections the PU might have had regarding the number of individual opportunities available, he replied that the placement season was still in progress and the Placement Unit was working hard to get as many companies and placements as possible. Consequently, he was unable to predict the number of placements in the middle of the season.

Finally, Aditya said that internships were not adversely affected by the pandemic. This was because companies like to keep a steady influx of interns and PPOs are made well in advance of the joining date, often a year or two before graduation. The only issues with PPOs were delays in honouring those slated to join this year.

Aditya asserted that while the virtual semester brought new challenges and was a novel experience, the PU was earnestly working towards resolving them and carrying out the process smoothly to ensure the best experience for everyone.