Fresher salary mayhem!

India is known for its quality of education and students who graduate every year in huge numbers. The year 2008 was the year of glory and pride for all B-schools as well as the fresh graduates. While applying for a job students first look at the company name and the brand value it has and the salary package offered.

The year 2009 had a shaky start with the Global recession hitting hard. Where there were more jobs and few people to fill up the vacancies; this year the tables have turned. The highlight of the year 2008 was the drastic increase in the pay packages. Even the stipend offered to summer interns was fairly high. “Last year we had hired at least 20 fresh graduates from just one Institute.

The pay package offered to them was at least 10 times higher than what we usually pay. This year there has been a slack. We did not give pink slips to employees but had to cut down on the salary, stop recruitments and curtail most company expenses”, says a HR executive from a finance company. As compared to last year, this year many institutes have approached Public sector units, Pharma manufacturers as well as Government run organizations. Good but lower paying jobs were more aggressively pursued this year. “We were on a roll till last year as all our students had got placed by the end of December 07. We had invited some of the biggest companies last year, but this year most of them were reluctant to participate and the ones who came, recruited very few. Therefore, we had to revamp our strategies, get more companies involved and stretch the duration of placements”, says a placement coordinator of a well known B-school.

Most of the students have rejected offers from foreign companies because of job security issues abroad as the recession has hit the foreign markets in a massive way. Experts say that India is in a much better position in the job security front. There have been salary cuts and cost cutting in many organizations but lesser lay off’s in comparison to foreign markets. Most B-schools have placed almost 100 percent of their students, mostly in the home companies, even though the average salary offered this year was between 6-10 Lakhs per annum, i.e., almost 10-20 percent lower than the average salary as compared to last year.

Industry experts believe that the fresh graduates should look at a career option rather than just a ‘job’ choice. A calm and patient mind helps in deciding on what sector and industry one can be interested in working with a long term perspective in mind. This is the best time for freshers to start networking with people from various companies and be abreast with the hiring trends in this market situation. A well informed and skillful employee is what most companies look for.

- Ekta Bhatnagar (views expressed in the article are that of the author)