Around 1500 students enter the famed premises of IIT Roorkee every year, to finally reach their dream destination. After having slogged off a monotonous routine for two or potentially more years, they finally have a chance to shape their lives in the way they want. After completing their respective degrees, quite a few take up higher studies, enter B-schools, establish startups etc. However, a large fraction of them opt to sit for on-campus placements, which was probably the very reason for them to join an IIT. Placements are often regarded as the ultimate assessment of the time spent here at the college. From multiple aptitude tests, to group discussions and finally the nerve racking interviews. In this report, Watch Out! deciphers the placement stats and figures, 2021.

The placement season consists of two phases: The first phase starts from 1st December and continues till 15th December whereas the second phase commences from first week of February and extends till May end. The tests and resume submissions for companies start as early as 1st week of October and span over the next two and a half months.

The placement process for the first phase starts when companies come to give presentations, followed by resume shortlisting, written or online tests and finally the interviews, which commence from December 1. The PIC organizes preparation tests and workshops in partnership with Career Launcher & pariksha.com. These workshops are week-long classes that give a general course on quantitative aptitude and provide tutorial sheets for practice. These are especially useful for students who are not very inclined towards specialized profiles. It also helps students figure out their relative standing among their peers.

Numbers

Number of Students Registered = 1776
Number of PPOs = 190 (187 accepted)
Number of Offers Made = 1202
Number of Companies that Recruited = 271
Number of Profiles Offered = 727

As a trend for every year the percentage of students placed for circuital branches (CSE, ECE, EE) were the highest.

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Some noteworthy companies that offered PPOs were Microsoft (17), Oracle (14), Goldman Sachs (9), Google (8), Standard Chartered (6), Amazon (6), Adobe (5), JP Morgan Chase & Co (5).

We have categorized offered roles in the following broad profiles:

As always, most of the offers were for the role of SDE, with 498 placements being offered by 120 companies, followed by Core with 154 offers by 48 companies, and Analyst with 120 offers by 35 companies.

Placements for the year 2021 were impressively on an upswing compared to the past year. However, the immutable issue of having not enough diversity among the profiles remained as it is, the software profiles eclipse the various other profiles still. Providing later slots/dates to Analyst or Consultant profiles leads to companies reducing their pay figures. This makes students gravitate towards software roles.

The campus culture helps students explore a wide range of career options and provide space to every individual to evolve in his own way. Apart from coding and software development, the enthusiasm for Finance, Consultancy, Operations, Data Science, Marketing, UX/UI Design, Product Management and Design profiles has increased significantly, considering the flourishing campus groups in these fields. But as the placement season approaches, the less number of companies in the desired sector and proper profiles and/or CTC’s lead to a major disappointment (See the Profile-Wise Companies Distribution Graph and Profile-Wise Students Placed Graph).

On-campus placements definitely have an edge in comparison to off-campus placements due to a straightforward, transparent and simplified process. The tasks of emailing and approaching the company are done by the PIC, and most of the major firms recruit through campus placements. But students interested in other profiles, due to lack of offers, choose to dive into the chaotic rigmarole of off-campus placements by a variety of methods, approaching their alumni networks or through LinkedIn, among other methods. In these matters, the PIC needs to take concrete steps to accommodate the needs of the students. The PIC has the sole power and authority to approach the companies, talk to the HRs and negotiate the hiring date and offers. Big firms and reputed brands fight over earlier slots and provide fairly high enumeration only when given the slot of higher priority. Certain firms do not come for hiring even after taking the test and shortlisting the candidates. When given a lower priority, reputed firms either refuse from recruiting or reduce their pay packages. In the end, it is the student community that suffers.

Unquestionably the placements hold much importance in a student’s life, but it is vital to keep in mind that they are not the only metric for a ‘successful college life’. A lot many things can go not so well on the interview day, and it is easy to fumble up under an immense rush and peer pressure or standing up for your own expectations.

There are many things the junta needs to know about the workings of the PIC, like the workings of the current system and the problems students face during placements and internships. WO! will continue to report on these issues.

We hope this serves as a helpful reference for the next batch of students heading towards the placement season.

Note: This analysis is based on data obtained from results.channeli.in (Accessible only to final year students over campus Wi-Fi or VPN) and from PIC.