Concerns mount as IIT class of 2024 witnesses 15-30 percent drop in job offers during final placements

Amidst the ongoing final placements at the Indian Institutes of Technology, anxiety builds among students from the Class of 2024, now well into the placement process. Despite meticulous anticipation and planning for a challenging placement season, placement team representatives from various older IITs have informed ET that the number of students securing job offers is currently 15-30% lower compared to the previous year.

According to a report of Economic Times, For the first time, even some computer science engineering students the most coveted of the lot are yet to get placed in over a week, said placement sources at some old IITs. In other years, these students are all lapped up by recruiters within the first couple of days of placements, or three-four days at the most.

The current scenario raises notable concerns, given that the premier engineering institutes of Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur, Madras, Kharagpur, Roorkee, Guwahati, and Varanasi (BHU) have traditionally set the benchmark for engineering placements in the country. These prestigious institutions attract hundreds of thousands of students, who often view securing a seat as a pathway to lucrative employment. Even amid the challenges posed by last year's tech slowdown during placements, IIT students outperformed many of their counterparts.

Recruiters who used to hire 8-10 students are now taking 1-2 students each; some are coming to campus but leaving without recruiting, said an IIT-Kharagpur student. It’s a vicious cycle, said a student. Earlier when there was a rush, everyone used to compete to hire students. Now that there’s a slowdown, others are also questioning whether they need as many students as they had hired in the past, ET reported.

As of Day 7 this year, IIT-Kharagpur has garnered 1,181 offers, as revealed by Rajib Maity, the chairperson of its career development centre. In comparison, the institute had reported 1,300 offers by the end of Day 5 last year, as per a prior statement.