Term 7 begins

Term 7 begins today and this is the term who would be maximum non-academic action. Yes I am referring to the Placement season that is hotting up. Everyone I know has been asking whether I am placed yet or not; there is still a month-and-half to go for the placement week. More than the students, it is the outsiders who are more keen about placements. It's a full circle - every year it starts with media reporting that so many students got salaries of a crore or above and then the school tries to grapple with too much media attention as it inflates all the expectation while secretly enjoying the coverage. All the prospective students get excited about it and the students who already got admits show the media coverage to their kith and kin and boast that next it would be much better as the next batch is better than the previous one. They go in with lots of expectations, slog hard and start dreaming. Now the companies have to do the catching up business - it's not just a matter of talent, it's a matter of branding, pride and all other non-HR reasons. The key issue for the HR folks would be to figure out what roles do they want to hire for and how much should they be paying. Should they reveal the figure in the ppt or should they keep it a open-secret or avoid the question altogether. Whatever they do, they will be hit by adverse selection in one form or the other. HR folks go back to the HR consultants to understand what the current compensation levels and what they can offer but find them so distant from the figures reported in the media earlier that they have the most difficult situation in the world. If they don't offer good packages, they will not get Day 1 or even Day 2 and there will be a great chances of declining offers, which is the most dreaded thing after one puts in so much effort into the campus recruitment. It's not that if the B-school grad's entry is going to drastically change the fortunes of the company - half of them don't stick with the first company anyway, but it is about all those non-HR goals and they are more important.

I know that I lost my way while writing this post but nevertheless I want to put down all the random thoughts I have been having about placements since last 20 odd days.

I have decided to keep Term 7 a little light by taking only 3 courses but we still have to finish our project, which should be done in this week.

For all the R1 admits, you have 3 more months to live the normal life, so enjoy it and R2 applicants - don't be in a rush, things will happen at their pace, you have only so much in control, but be ready to run on the word "go."

Good luck to you all.