India's Most Transparent Business Schools, As Per Top Campus Recruiters

This report aims to bring in a degree of balance to the Indian placements process by serving as a bridge of communication between B-school placement committees and campus recruiters. In the past, InsideIIM has released reports on the shortcomings of campus recruiters in the hiring process, as told to us by MBA students. In a similar spirit, through this unprecedented report, we intend to bring out the shortcomings of the placement committees, as per campus recruiters.

We are hopeful that placement committees of the mentioned business schools take cognizance of this report and its contents, and improve/maintain their levels of transparency with campus recruiters.

How Transparent Are Indian B-Schools With Top Campus Recruiters?

This is one of the stickiest points with most campus recruiters. Students and Career Services Cells are known to game the system to optimize for ensuring maximum students from the batch get placed. Placement Committee members are known to further personal interest or the interest of their friends, and the boundaries are often not clear. Campus teams from companies are also unrealistic and often vain. They want to be among the 'first' companies on campus. When there are competing objectives at an organizational level, career preferences and student interest suffers the most. It is fair to say that though the current system of campus recruitment gets the job done, it is not in an atmosphere of mutual trust.

We asked the recruiters to name three business schools that they consider the most transparent & three business schools that they consider the least transparent during on-campus recruitment processes. The table below encapsulates the results that were obtained.

The Most Transparent B-Schools In India, As Per Top 24 Campus Recruiters

Rank	Schools That You Consider To Be The Most Transparent During The On-Campus Recruitment Process	Number of Votes - Most Transparent
1	IIM Bangalore	8
1	IIM Ahmedabad	8
3	IIM Kozhikode	5
4	IIM Calcutta	4
5	ISB Hyderabad	3
5	IIM Lucknow	3
5	XLRI Jamshedpur	3
8	FMS Delhi	2
8	SPJIMR Mumbai	2
8	IIFT Delhi	2
8	JBIMS Mumbai	2
8	NMIMS Mumbai	2
13	IIM Indore	1
13	IIM Shillong	1
15	NITIE Mumbai	0
15	MDI Gurgaon	0
15	IIM Rohtak	0
15	SIBM Pune	0
15	SCMHRD Pune	0
15	SJMSoM IIT Bombay	0

There is no priming from our side. The recruiter had to name three schools. Clearly IIM Bangalore and IIM Ahmedabad seem to be the first two schools on most respondents' minds. However, this is only half the story. The following table shows that the same school voted as most transparent by one set of recruiters is voted as the least transparent by another set of recruiters.

The Least Transparent B-Schools In India, As Per 24 Top Campus Recruiters

	Schools That You Consider To Be The Least Transparent During The On-Campus Recruitment Process	Number of Votes - LEAST Transparent
1	XLRI Jamshedpur	7
2	IIM Ahmedabad	6
3	SPJIMR Mumbai	4
4	IIM Lucknow	3
4	NITIE Mumbai	3
6	IIM Calcutta	2
6	IIM Indore	2
6	IIM Kozhikode	2
9	FMS Delhi	1
9	JBIMS Mumbai	1
9	NMIMS Mumbai	1
9	MDI Gurgaon	1
9	IIM Bangalore	1
9	IIM Rohtak	1
9	SIBM	1
9	SCMHRD	1
9	SJMSoM IIT Bombay	1
10	IIFT Delhi	0
10	ISB Hyderabad	0
10	IIM Shillong	0

IIM Ahmedabad got 8 votes for being the MOST Transparent. However, 6 other recruiters have a completely different opinion about the same school. Clearly, different companies are treated differently by the same campus. Interestingly, IIM Bangalore has avoided the same polarization within this set of 24 recruiters. This means IIM Bangalore is NOT seen to be as opaque overall in comparison to IIM Ahmedabad.

To make this analysis easier, we looked at the Net Transparency Score (NTS). NTS = Number of Votes as Most Transparent (minus) Number of Votes as Least Transparent. Look at the NTS table below.

Rank	Schools That You Consider To Be The Most Transparent During The On-Campus Recruitment Process	Number of Votes - Most Transparent	Number of Votes - Least Transparent	Net Transparency Score
1	IIM Bangalore	8	1	7
2	IIM Kozhikode	5	2	3
2	ISB Hyderabad	3	0	3
4	IIM Ahmedabad	8	6	2
4	IIM Calcutta	4	2	2
4	IIFT Delhi	2	0	2
7	FMS Delhi	2	1	1
7	JBIMS Mumbai	2	1	1
7	NMIMS Mumbai	2	1	1
7	IIM Shillong	1	0	1
11	IIM Lucknow	3	3	0
11	NITIE Mumbai	0	0	0
13	IIM Indore	1	2	-1
13	MDI Gurgaon	0	1	-1
13	IIM Rohtak	0	1	-1
13	SIBM Pune	0	1	-1
13	SCMHRD Pune	0	1	-1
13	SJMSoM IIT Bombay	0	1	-1
19	SPJIMR Mumbai	2	4	-2
20	XLRI Jamshedpur	3	7	-4

The above table doesn't look good for schools like XLRI and SPJIMR. 7 recruiters have named XLRI among the LEAST transparent business school during campus recruitment SPJIMR despite bagging two votes as most transparent has managed to disappoint 4 other top recruiters.

It is worse for schools like MDI, IIM Rohtak, SIBM and SCMHRD since they have not got a single vote for being MOST Transparent but have been recognized as LEAST transparent by at least one recruiter.

IIM Indore should worry about its place among the top schools in India. They may have debuted in the Financial Times ranking or scored high in the HRD Ministry rankings but recruiters don't seem to be very happy with how campus placements are run.

IIM Lucknow is also walking on eggshells with at least 3 top recruiters, even though an equal number of recruiters have voted the institute's placement committee as one of the most transparent amongst the listed business schools.

A lot of schools are not mentioned at all because they are neither considered among the most transparent nor have these set of recruiters had very horrid experiences in those schools. According to us, most schools should aim to be among the Most Transparent list but it is equally important to dodge the Least Transparent list. This can only happen if there is a clearly defined process and if the process is consistent for all companies. Unfortunately, campuses change rules ad-hoc or hide special privileges afforded to other companies until they are caught.

IIM Bangalore, ISB Hyderabad are clear winners when it comes to transparency. IIM Kozhikode too has done extremely well - ISB edges IIM Kozhikode slightly because it has got no negative votes. All three institutes are from South India.

One clear conclusion from the above data is that most campuses seem to give preference to certain companies at the expense of other companies. IIM Bangalore and ISB seem to be the only ones who have high brand recall as being transparent and very little association with being not transparent at the same time.

As a part of the InsideIIM Campus Recruiters Survey, we will soon release the list of 'The Most Desirable B-Schools To Hire From, For Campus Recruiters'. Stay tuned!

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