Staying faithful to last year’s hiring pattern, consulting firms continued to be top-drawer hirers of talent from the IIMs and other B-schools this year as well.
Consulting firms made a total of 160 offers to the graduating batch of IIM Bangalore, 133 in management consulting and 27 in tech consulting, which was around 35 per cent of the 462 offers made to 420 students of the batch.
Last year, the offers from consulting firms stood at 30 per cent. Deloitte USI made the most offers at 18, while The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) made 17; AT Kearney 16; Accenture Strategy 16; and McKinsey & Co and Bain & Co 11 each. There were 73 offers in banking and finance, the next largest hirer.
Hike in annual package
At India’s premier B-school, IIM Ahmedabad, Accenture Strategy made the highest number of offers (including pre-placements) of 17, closely followed by BCG with 15 offers in Cluster 1 of the placements.
Mumbai-based SPJIMR, among the top 10 B-schools, announced a 30 per cent jump in the number of participants placed with marquee consulting firms in the final placement process, compared with placements last year. The increase came alongside a rise in the annual average salary of the batch to ₹22.24 lakh, capping a season in which the interviews and offer processes were completed in record time.
Top consulting firms such as BCG, Siemens Management Consulting, Bristlecone, GEP, Deloitte, PwC India & SDC, KPMG, EY, IBM, Accenture Technologies picked up 35 per cent of the batch.
Sought-after sector
Prof Ganesh Prabhu, Chairperson, Career Development Services, IIMB, said that almost all the offers from consulting firms were accepted as consulting happens to be the most sought after sector among students across IIMs, after investment banking/private equity/venture capital. These areas are more sought after but make fewer offers.
“Consulting companies typically hire freshers and those with very low experience. They also recruit those with more consulting or investment banking experience, if any. Those with high experience but not in consulting or investment banking are typically not considered unless they have done exceptionally well in the programme,” says Prof Prabhu.
Such firms’ recruitment is not matched to the current demand for consulting, so if they hire less during campus recruitments and skip good candidates, it is very difficult for them to find equally good people in the market later, when demand picks up, says Prof Prabhu. “So, they typically hire as many as they find at IIMs who meet their hiring standards every year,” he adds.
Rapid growth
Suresh Subudhi, Partner and Head of Recruitment, BCG , says the firm hired 50 per cent more than last year across undergraduate and B-schools. “Consulting has been one of the top recruiters across campuses this year. Since consulting offers wide exposure and gives candidates a broader perspective across industries and functions, it makes this domain a preferred choice among candidates. With an ever-changing, dynamic environment, the expertise we offer our clients across functions makes consulting a rapidly growing industry,” he explains.
Subudhi says that campus recruits can get a wide range of experiences across industries and functions. “We have been growing consistently in traditional sectors such as industrial goods, public sector, financial services, consumer, energy and TMT. We have also been witnessing rapid growth in the technology advantage space,” he adds.