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Online drive hits IIT-Bombay placements
As the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are busy wrapping up their placement report for the season, an article made public by the students of IIT-Bombay (IIT-B) shows that the season was anything but smooth
As the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are busy wrapping up their placement report for the season, an article made public by the students of IIT-Bombay (IIT-B) shows that the season was anything but smooth. From complaints of students cheating on tests to companies going back on their promises, the student-run placement team shared anecdotes of what the 2020 placement season at the prestigious IIT-B looked like this year.
For starters, the pandemic forced this annual process to go completely online, eliminating any chance of face-to-face interaction and causing more anxiety among students.
“Students were not present on campus, which hampered the usual mode of communication through in person interaction. Team dynamics and transparency were also affected due to the lack of visibility of any and every part of the placement process taking place on campus,” stated an article released late on Wednesday night in the IIT-B in-house student magazine, Insight.
Members of Insight refused to comment on the article but said a follow-up analysis on the placement season is in the offing. “We had complaints from multiple recruiters regarding evidence of malpractices in tests from the students’ end which led to serious repercussions, including hampering the relations with the placement cell and affecting the recruitment numbers on campus as well. Some companies had even planned to back out from the process,” highlighted the article that quotes members of the students who were a part of the placement cell.
While members of the placement cell refused to comment, an official of the placement office said that the details in Insight were circulated for internal purposes.
“As this was our first experience in conducting the entire placement drive online, there were a lot of challenges, from lack of face-to-face interviews to the poor hiring market. Despite these odds, we had a decent placement season, with the number of offers made similar to last year’s,” said the official,
Owing to the increasing Covid-19 cases and travel restrictions in place across several states, IITs across the country had decided to conduct their annual placements online in the 2020-21 academic year. Tests, group discussions and personal interviews were conducted virtually with neither the students nor the hiring companies stepping foot on campus at all.
Across IITs, the first phase of placements took place in the first two weeks of December, while the second phase started sometime in January this year and went on till the end of the academic year. “We sat through several mock tests that were available online and also attended some mock sessions conducted by our institute. However, the real experience was scary, and I didn’t do well in the first two tests, only to find out later that some of my batch mates cheated in the test and scored well,” said a student from IIT-B, who was recruited in the first phase of placements itself.
“Several of us raised this point with the placement team in last December itself, and it looks like some companies found out about it and had similar complaints,” he added.
The Insight article also mentioned feedback from recruiters about students not performing at par with other IITs.
“We received feedback from multiple companies and alumni in the respective firms citing poor performance of students in tests and interviews by the students as compared to other IITs. This led to a decline in the shortlist size as well as final selections,” said the article.
Recruiters, too, posed their own share of problems, which started with offering fewer jobs and smaller pay packages this year due to the pandemic.
“Companies were also much less flexible to negotiate things such as increase in salary [due to a cash crunch], eligibility and job openings in additional departments,” the article said and further highlighted that logistical issues due to the virtual setup was also not taken into consideration by several recruiters.
“There was little or no scope of a retest in case a student faced internet trouble during the test. Many also took longer periods of time to confirm jobs, adding to the anxiety among the student community,” the article added.
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