CHENNAI: If anything was obvious during the second day of the IIT-M placement session this year, it was this — e-commerce and Internet dependant companies, some of them start-ups, are here to stay. And students are “psyched” about a chance to work for them.
Flipkart, eBay, Snapdeal, Stayzilla and Ola Cabs were all hiring on Day II of the placement session. And they were ‘hot’ picks as far as students were concerned.
Tuesday saw quite a few companies that have become household names in the last few years, and in the case of some like Ola and Stayzilla, in a few months.
And while a several of the really big names like Microsoft had already finished their turns during the graveyard shift on Monday, students were quite happy to be considered for what were ‘exciting’ prospects.
“I’ve appeared for both Flipkart and Ola and I’d be happy to get into either of them,” said Abhilash Reddy, a BTech Mechanical Engineering student. “They’re new, they’re growing and quite frankly I know that there are a lot of opportunities for employees who do well in these companies,” he pointed out.
And this seems to be the pivot around which most students are looking forward to at these companies. And while Flipkart, eBay and Amazon are not newcomers to the IIT-M placement scene, Stayzilla, Snapdeal and Ola definitely are.
“Flipkart was here last year, but Snapdeal is here for the first time and so are Ola and Stayzilla. And we expect that Day II will have offers ranging from `15-20 lakh per annum for the most part,” said Professor Babu Viswanath heading IIT-M’s placement cell.
If his estimate turns true, then these new names are really upping their ante because along with them figure other established names like CitiCorp. “I know that there just isn’t as much potential in these ‘traditional’ firms,” said Sai Vignesh another BTech student. “Given a choice between, say, CitiCorp or Ola, I’d pick Ola.”
His wish may just come true because while the number of offers made by Ola and Snapdeal, which were hiring in the second session, have not been released, they had shortlisted more than 100 significant candidates from the written test.