E-commerce hiring dips at IIM-B

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) will have lesser presence in the e-commerce sector this year.

Making a deviation from the trend seen in recent years, fewer job offers were made to the 2014-16 PGP (Postgraduate Programme) class by the sector in the final placements, which concluded here on Thursday.

While the overall number of job offers was more or less the same, IIMB reported a slight dip in the number of offers from the e-commerce sector.

While Amazon made 16 offers and Flipkart 11, other prominent e-commerce players who participated included Uber, Ola Cabs, Paytm, Urban Ladder, AskmeBazaar, Hopscotch and CarTrade. Last year, Amazon and Snapdeal made 17 offers each, which incidentally were the highest by any single firm.

Ganesh N. Prabhu, Chairperson, Career Development Services, IIMB was quoted as saying, “Even though there was a slight dip in e-commerce hiring, the consulting firms hired in larger numbers and helped accelerate the placements.”

Elaborating on the decline in the number of offers in the e-commerce sector, Sapna Agarwal, Head, Career Development Services told The Hindu that the sector had seen a year-on-year increase in intake for the previous batches. “This time, either some of them didn’t come or hired in smaller numbers. But we did have newer companies come in. It could simply be because they have sufficient manpower for now. The rate of growth of the business has to justify hiring more managerial talent,” she said.

While IIMB officials said the general quantum of salaries is yet to be ascertained, they admitted to seeing a general rise across sectors. The difference between the highest and lowest salaries has come down.

“The lower end salaries have gotten a little higher and the class is levelling out,” Ms. Agarwal said.

About 18 students were offered international placements, compared to the 25 offers made last year.

Krishna M., placement representative, added, “We saw close to 25 per cent first-time recruiters who hired in good numbers.”

But the overall number of job offers was more or less the same this year.

This article appeared in The Hindu on 12th February, 2016.