IIMs tap alumni for graduates’ job placement, HR News, ETHRWorld

Placement cells at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are activating their powerful alumni networks as they face the daunting prospect of placing their largest-ever graduating classes ever amid a turbulent global job market.

Alumni at the IIMs are in senior positions across India Inc. and overseas with many in C-suite roles at major corporations as well as startups. In a year where even the country’s top management schools are struggling to secure jobs for all their students, these institutes are relying heavily on the alumni networks for placements.

“We have maintained an outreach with the alumni in past years but it has never been as important a channel as this time,” said an IIM Calcutta student, who declined to be named.

Earlier too, IIM Calcutta had reached out to its alumni, seeking internship offers during summer placements, in anticipation of a market downturn.

“We had got a great response even then,” said the IIMC student, adding that final placements are more crucial in the scheme of things. “These placements will pay our EMIs.”

Help in cracking jobs
For the IIMs, alumni members, particularly those at the CXO-level at top companies, can help open up jobs, sometimes even when the companies are going slow on hiring. “We…