Finance, consulting firms rule B-schools

Traditionally popular sectors such as IT, marketing and consumer goods take a back seat.

Consulting and financial companies ruled the B-school campuses during final placements this year. Sectors like IT, marketing and FMCG, popular until now, took a back seat; almost all B-schools have seen a majority of their graduating class opt for financial and consulting firms.

Consider these figures: At IIM Bangalore, 78 per cent of the batch accepted offers from financial services (41 per cent) and consultancy firms (37 per cent), while 14 per cent accepted jobs in marketing with FMCG majors. At IIM Ahmedabad, 74 per cent chose offers from finance (44 per cent) and consulting (30 per cent) firms.

At IIM Kozhikode, the share of these two was 58 per cent (finance 33 per cent and consulting 25 per cent), compared to 43 per cent last year. At IIM Lucknow too, finance and consulting together attracted 50 per cent of the class of 2007. IIM Calcutta, a preferred hiring destination for financial and consulting companies, has yet to complete its final placements.

At other B-schools, the scene was no different. Xavier's Institute of Labour Relations (XLRI), Jamshedpur, placed 54 per cent of its batch size with consulting (24 per cent) and finance companies (30 per cent).

The Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi, placed 48 per cent of its batch with financial firms and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Delhi 32 per cent. Last year, the largest recruiters at IIFT were IT companies, absorbing 42 per cent of the batch, compared to 28 per cent this year.

Besides offering a good salary packet, finance and consulting firms offer a broad work profile to students and are therefore preferred over other sectors.

Says Sourav Mukherjee, chairman placements, IIM-B: "Students prefer starting their career with a consulting or finance job because it gives them a broader base, as it involves IT and general management functions too. Besides, consulting is almost an extension of the IIMs. The kind of work students do at the consulting companies is similar to what they do on the campus."

Finance firms have done well also because they offered jobs at the associate level. "Many marketing and retail companies offer entry-level jobs, compared to associate-level jobs offered by the finance and consulting sector. With a batch profile of experienced people, companies have offered jobs to students at associate level, which was not the case earlier. The firms also offered senior positions like that of vice-president and specialised profiles to the students," says an IIM-K placement committee member.

Among consulting firms, McKinsey & Company led the way at most institutes. Hewitt, Accenture Business Consulting, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Stern Stewart, Mercer, TSMG, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co, Arthur D. Little, Diamond Consulting and AT Kearney were the other big names from the consulting industry who hired from these institutes. From the financial sector, Goldman Sachs, JPMC, Rabo Bank, CitiFinancial, ICRA, L&T, Adventity, and ICICI Prudential visited the campus.