Job Market: Down, But Not Out
RAJESH ANAM COMPLETED his MBA from a Mumbai-based business school earlier this year. But even before he could get his degree, he had an offer letter from a leading digital marketing company. Just when Anam believed he had secured his future, Covid-19 brought the economy to a halt. Several businesses shut down as a consequence of the prolonged lockdown and many were stranded without jobs. A multitude of businesses were also unable to honour their hiring commitments on campuses across the country, since they were grappling with survival issues. Anam’s employer also sent him a polite regret letter saying the company won’t be able to honour its commitment of hiring him. “I don’t have a grouse against them since most of their clients are in travel, hospitality and retail sectors, which completely shut down during the lockdown,” says Anam.
Business schools across the country have similar stories of companies that were not able to either honour their hiring commitments or pushed joining dates of management trainees by a few months. “Companies such as Uber backed out, while Udaan did not honour its summer internship commitment. It did hire management trainees it had committed to hire. Reliance Industries on-boarded candidates at a much lesser compensation package,” says Upasana Bagchi (name changed on request), an alumni of XLRI Jamshedpur. At many of the leading IIMs, a number of banks and consulting companies backed out
