InsideIIM Recruitment Survey Results - Part III - Choices - Most Preferred Career Domains, Most preferred Sales & Marketing Companies

This is the 2012 survey result. For latest results for 2013, click here 2012 Part III digs into Career Choices. Also looks at Most preferred companies in a popular domain that recruits heavily across all MBA schools in India - Sales & Marketing (You can read the results in other parts of the The InsideIIM Recruitment Survey here)  

How likely are students of Class of 2013 to switch their domains from the ones they interned in the Summer of 2012 when sitting for Final Placements in Jan-March 2013?

 

(The above diagram is the addition of the break up given below. It has been done for convenience of understanding.)

Highly Likely	17.71%
Somewhat Likely	20.83%
I am confused	2.78%
Somewhat Unlikely	22.57%
Highly Unlikely	36.11%

The above statistics are telling. They reaffirm the belief we have at InsideIIM that the Summer Placement is the single biggest factor that determines one's career path. If you are a Class of 2014 student you better be serious about your summer internship. The above facts also reflect the difficult times. Candidates seem to acknowledge that it would be tougher for them to switch domains and also that if a PPO is offered, most of them will not have the luxury to refuse it. Another factor worth exploring is that candidates not exposed to other domains are likely to stick to what they experience first hand during an internship. It is also important because majority of students across business schools in Indian have little or no experience and most of the experience is in the IT domain. Picture this, a person enters BSchool in July. In 2 months he/she is preparing for summer placements and gets placed in Sep-Oct-Nov. With the rates of Pre-Placement Offers in most companies, it is almost assured that close to 30% of the batch will never have to worry about studying or placements for the remaining 18 months of their BSchool. The question that needs to be asked is whether the companies really believe business schools add value to a candidate or they give weight-age only to the fact that candidates come through a tough exam with a lot of filters. We are extremely circumspect of the notion that quality education dictates recruitment. There is very little evidence of that on offer.  

Most Preferred Career Domains

Question asked to the Class of 2013 was -  Please select your most preferred domain from the list below in which you wish to pursue your career. A list of domains was given. Results:

(Consulting here includes Management Consulting & IT/Business Process/ERP Consulting. Respondents were clearly told this before they answered)

Finance loses appeal among the Class of 2013.  Not surprising. Banking and Finance has been a problem area in the economy and the biggest banks in the world are struggling. Another reason for such a split is also that fewer Banking & Finance offers were made during the time of Summer Placements. Naturally, that has an effect on future choices too. Popularity of HR over Operations/Supply Chain and IT is very interesting and is difficult to explain the reason for this. The significance of the graph above is highlighted further when we see the graph below. MBA Aspirants and 1st Year MBA students (Class of 2014) were asked to rank the domains from 1 to 7 based on their preferences. Weights were assigned to the top 5 ranks (10,6,3,2,1). Bottom Two Ranks were not accounted for in the finals score at all. The results:

(Consulting here includes Management Consulting & IT/Business Process/ERP Consulting. Respondents were clearly told this before they answered the survey)

Anyone surprised? Consulting is glamorous and Finance pays a lot of money. Typical stories one is bombarded with before joining a business school. Sales & Marketing appears a distant 4th in the preferences here. Again, can easily be explained with sterotypes associated with S&M. It is amazing how many people write to us assuming S&M means going from door to door selling washing powder.  About 80% of emails we get on our helpline-Eklavya ask us how they can get into a Multi-national bank or a consulting company. Reality dawns only after joining a business school. Finance biggies never recruit in bulk and Consulting majors do not visit every campus. And these are difficult times. Number of roles are fewer. Also, students understand what Sales & Marketing managers do. A combination of factors changes the preferences one year into the business school.  

Sales & Marketing

The class of 2013(who selected Sales & Marketing as their preferred domain) and Post-MBA professionals (who are working in this domain) were asked if they would work in a list of companies on a scale of 'Most Desirable','Highly Desirable', 'I'm Confused', 'I do not wish to apply' and 'I have never heard of this company before'. A weighted mean score was calculated. MBA aspirants and 1st Year MBA students were asked to simply Rank their top 5 companies. A weighted scored was calculated assigning weights of 10,6,3,2,1 for the 5 ranks. The Results   Unilever and P&G consistently appear as top 2 and their scores were very close throughout. ITC, Coca-Cola and Cadbury feature repeatedly in top 5 across the segments. Google and Nestle have 1 appearance each. Please find score out of 5 of the top 10 companies as scored by the Class of 2013 and Post MBA Industry Professionals     Our view at InsideIIM is that the opinion of the Post-MBA industry professionals is more significant. They are people who have gone through the placement rigmarole at business school and also have a fair idea about companies, work culture, compensation, career growth etc. across companies   Methodology Over 1200 respondents took the survey online. Incomplete surveys were filtered out.  Duplicate surveys were not accounted for. Adequate steps were taken to prevent ballot stuffing and rigging using technology. The above findings are based on 700 legitimate respondents  with 70% of the respondents in 10 major cities in India . They answered between 25-30 questions based on their profile (Aspirant, Student or Alumni). The relevant questions have been mentioned above for each of the parameters addressed in this part.   If you are preparing for Summer Placements or Final Placements, please have a look at our Career Guide - The InsideIIM Career Guide   The InsideIIM Recruitment Survey 2012 Results Part I – Most Preferred Work Cities Part II – Cost of an MBA Programme in India, Minimum Salary expectations (Class of 2013), Companies delivering the Best Pre-Placement Talk (Voted by Class of 2013)  Part III – Career Choices – Most Preferred Career Domains, Most Preferred Sales & Marketing Companies Part IV - Most Preferred Companies in Finance & Consulting Part V -  Most Preferred Companies in General Management & Dream Companies - Overall     You may also be interested in : Insights@InsideIIM (You can read other results of this survey here : InsideIIM Recruitment Survey 2012)