A for Arrogance in IIM-A?

Updated on: Friday, June 24, 2011

Many domestic recruiters at India's top business school used the meltdown of 2009 as an opportunity to avenge the socalled arrogance of IIM-A students. Campus interviews during this period were rough, says a recently-released book.

Apparently, most Indian companies had a feeling, even while they were doling out astronomical sums as compensation to these youngsters, that most of these recruits behaved as if they were God's gift to mankind. The arrogance showed in 20-minute interviews where students would bluntly ask: "So, how much are you offering?"

Then came the meltdown when many big recruiters shied away from campus interviews. Some recruiters who came started to reject every single student to send out a strong message, writes Saral Mukherjee, placement chairman at IIM-A in the book 'Nurturing Institutional Excellence: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad'.

Earlier, when the going was good, these domestic recruiters were elbowed out by global firms during placements.

"One recruiter, also an alumnus, told me that students behaved as if a high paying job is an entitlement. Recruiters felt students behaved as if they were doing a favour by coming for pre placement talks," Mukherjee writes.

Many companies announced a hiring freeze when the financial markets in the west were unstable in 2009. This led to IIM-A moving from a seller's market to a buyer's market. Mukherjee says that this could be because the students had priced themselves out from the domestic market.

"One recruiter came for final placement interviews and rejected every single candidate. Yet, the same recruiter picked 75 per cent of students he interviewed for summer internships just a year later. I believe the recruiter was trying to make a point in a most dramatic fashion," writes Mukherjee.

However, Mukherjee adds that IIM-A as an institution is not arrogant but the behaviour of the students during placement may have conveyed the image. The consistent rankings of IIM-A as the premier business school should generate humility and a quiet confidence instead of arrogance.

Much has changed after the mayhem in 2009. Mukherjee told TOI, "The recession has taught the students that arrogance has no value. The arrogance that recruiters were talking about was a result of demand exceeding supply. But today, we have a new system in place where demand is matched with supply."

Times of India

A for Arrogance in IIM-A?

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