February 2009 - Posts - On The Job

February 2009 - Posts

Placements 2009: View from inside (IIFT Delhi)

Posted by Vividha Kaul at 
For several years now, placements at India’s premier B-schools have typically been a question of a day or two. You start off in the morning and by evening, a major chunk of the batch would have been picked up by some good company or the other. Students are spoilt for choice and at the end of the two or maximum, three days when placements get over, many...

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Work ex and MBA: What’s the deal?

Posted by Vividha Kaul at 
Henry Mintzberg, author of the landmark book 'Managers not MBAs' emphasised that work experience is must before an MBA. Most B-schools abroad do not even let freshers apply to their programme. In India, too, B-schools are increasingly adopting this trend. Today, premier Indian B-schools pride themselves in the fact that up to 60-70% of their...

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Executive education and a sense of pride

Posted by Aparna Kalra at 
Mint's pull-out on executive education shows that good companies will invest in people even in bad times. Executives who participate in mid-career progarmmes not only brush-up old skills, they acquire new ones. And they acquire something else which came through in their interviews: a sense of pride that their employer is willing to invest in their...

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'Put face' time at job placements in b-schools

Posted by Aparna Kalra at 
An in-house recruiter gave me this lovely term for what is happening at business school campuses in these days of slowdown when companies are visiting to keep their relationship with the campus intact but are hiring in much smaller numbers -- picking just 1 candidate per campus. Its called 'put face' or putting your face on campus, just the...

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Layoffs vs Pay cuts

Posted by Poornima Mohandas at 
US companies announced over 200,000 job cuts just in the month of January 2009 with corporations like Boeing, Pfizer, Microsoft, Caterpillar scaling back jobs. Are these well thought out job cuts or more of a herd mentality to trim costs? While selling machinery or office space may be cumbersome, handing out pink slips may be the easiest thing to do...

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Are we going to see more like United Airlines?

Posted by Poornima Mohandas at 
United Airlines which cut 1,000 jobs last month in the US, recently announced its plan to plough back 165 jobs out of India where it has call centres in Gurgaon and Bangalore. Is it a case of insourcing which seems to be gaining coinage for various reasons ranging right from raising cash to maintaining sentiment? To read more about insourcing - Insourcing...

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Recession leads to more dating?

Posted by Aparna Kalra at 
Yes, says the The New York Times. Online and offline dating services say that unemployed or underemployed people -- especially singles -- spend more time trawling the web for partners . And relatively cheap online dating comes to the fore at such times. An Indian friend, who lives and works in Delhi and whose company has been hit by the slowdown (we...

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B - School Journal: Free help for CAT Stage 2

Posted by Ken Dsouza at 
With this post Ken D'Souza, a first year student from NITIE, Mumbai, begins On The Job's B-School Journal series. Students will post about, campus events, academia, placements and give readers a view into B-School Life. It's that time of the year again. Lakhs of MBA aspirants across the country wait with bated breath for the various B-Schools...

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Can consultants help schools like Goa Institute of Management find jobs?

Posted by Poornima Mohandas at 
While some schools like IMT Nagpur and Goa Institute of Management are looking for consultants hoping to find more doors and opportunities there are many who disagree with the idea. N.D. Sharma placement coordinator *** registrar at KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, is one of the them I came across while reporting a story. "We...

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