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ISB Hyderabad Placements: MBA jobs at the Indian School of Business

ISB Hyderabad (Indian School of Business) placements have been pretty successful over the years, with alumni in all the top industries and companies. This post is for those who’ve been curious to find out more about how ISB graduates track these jobs, prepare for them and then move in for the kill .

For someone who’s been raised in Dubai, studied in India, worked in Libya, Germany and of course apna Bharat, Monil Ruparel chose to attend an Indian business school. He graduated from ISB Hyderabad and bagged a coveted role in a leading management consulting firm.

So we thought he’d be the best person to share some gyaan on how job hunting works at ISB and what prospective students can expect once you get in. Over to you, Monil-bhai.


Placement process at ISB Hyderabad

 
ISB Hyderabad Placements | MonilThe placements at ISB are led by a Student Placement Committee – PlaCom (student body) and Career Administrative Services – CAS (administrative body). CAS is the full-time staffed department at ISB.

It’s officials work throughout the year with companies to source in ELP consulting projects and finally pitch on behalf of the current batch to the recruiters. PlaCom is the interface between students and CAS that facilitates pre-recruitment activities such as understanding the aspirations of students, tabulating a list of target companies for CAS team to work on and eventually running the on-campus recruitment juggernaut as the placements commence.

The Placements at ISB are spread over a few months. The International companies start their process in September-October time-frame vis-a-vis Domestic recruitments that visit ISB from January. The International companies conduct their recruitment process on any day since September.

However, the domestic placement is divided into ‘Days’; companies are lumped into buckets based on priority ordering decided by the students. A placement ‘Day’ in ISB parlance does not refer to a calendar day but a weekend (Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Sunday) on which on-campus interviews happen.

The majority of the students at ISB get their jobs through the on-campus placements, as with all other B-schools in India. However, there are few others who resort to using the alumni network or their own network to land a job offer that’s more lucrative or offers a niche role that they has zeroed down to.

There are yet others who opt out of placement process because they are on a sabbatical or want to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. For those interested in pursuing entrepreneurship, ISB offers support through the EDI program.

However, should the entrepreneur fail in his idea, the student is allowed to sit through the placement process anytime during the next two placement cycles. This limits the risk for budding entrepreneurs and encourages them to take the path less travelled.
 

An ISB Student’s perspective

To give you a student’s perspective of the placement preparation, I’ll run you through the preparations that go into the pre-placement period. Students generally start their placement search with a confusing question, ‘What do I want to do after MBA?’

Although I was fairly clear which sector I wanted to go to, there were pangs of low confidence during my pre-placement preparation period when I asked the same question to myself.

This is when a diverse alumni network, easily accessible Alumni Database and forthcoming Alums come to rescue. I must have spoken to a couple of dozen alums from diverse backgrounds. All the alums I interacted over e-mails or telephone were very forthcoming in answering all my queries regarding their chosen career paths.

This was a crucial part of my job search exercise. However, it is generally the most neglected and I cannot emphasize enough how important this exercise is to if you are confused over your career choice.

Next step was to write a CV. For most ISB students, this happens around August, a couple of weeks before the first international opportunity is posted.

Alongside, the CAS team starts organizing multiple rounds of Alum CV review sessions on weekends. For these CV review sessions, when Alums from diverse background are flown in on a weekend to review CVs.

Alumni provide important tips on how to draft terse and impactful CVs. Following this, CV review sessions are also conducted by highly experienced members of CAS who interact daily with recruiters and know what to pitch to them in CVs.

Many students also prepare multiple CVs for openings from different sectors or functions. For example, a student may have a CV highlighting leadership qualities for a YLP (Young Leader Program – commonly known as Leadership Track offered by various companies such as Bharti Airtel or Aditya Birla Group) and have another CV highlighting analytical facet of his experience for Consulting job openings.

After the CV has been satisfactorily dealt with, comes the next bit – preparing for interviews. This can vary for students looking at different career options.

For example, for those interested in Consulting careers need to practice for case interviews while those interested in Finance need to get their Finance basics right.

Here I would like to draw attention to a very important but usually neglected component – Negotiations. It pays to be aware about the salary levels in the industry and those offered to MBA students on other campuses.

Negotiating well requires preparation and game plan on how to negotiate salary and other perks with recruiters. The extremely popular ‘Negotiation Analysis’ course at ISB helps students prepare on these aspects.

With this, I fast-forward to share with the pulse on campus about placements this year. Most students have been quite content with their offers.

Here, I would reiterate that for career-switchers, it will be easier and more prudent to change one of the two aspects, either industry or function. If you stick to one, you can pitch your case convincingly to a recruiter.

For those looking for change both, industry and function, it’s an uphill task, not impossible, but difficult. For detailed statistics of placements, kindly refer to Placement report on the ISB Hyderabad website.
 


Monil has a keen interest in career counseling, mentoring students and teaching. Here’s another little secret. He’s a foodie and a self-proclaimed connoisseur. So if you want to ask him a question about ISB (jobs, careers, admissions) or the energy sector (his area of expertise), a good way to get his attention is to make your queries look and sound delicious & appetizing.
 


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How I got into ISB despite poor academics

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Sameer Kamat
About Sameer Kamat
Founder of MBA Crystal Ball. Author of Beyond The MBA Hype & Business Doctors. Here's more about me. Follow me on: Instagram | Linkedin | Youtube

22 thoughts on “ISB Hyderabad Placements: MBA jobs at the Indian School of Business”

  1. Very insightful ! Thanks Monil and MCB for sharing this wonderful post . I learnt that you zeroed on your tasty consulting job . Which all offers were served to you, infact earned by you ? 🙂 And what made you decide mgmt consulting the right choice. I work as a Software Enggr in a premier MNC. I was just apprehensive when you suggested a career-switcher to either change industry or function,not both.I wish to switch to mgmt-consulting post my MBA and aspire to be in Big 4 firm.Present [ Fn : Tech, Industry : Tech ] => Post MBA [ Fn : Mgmt Consulting, Industry : Consulting ]
    What challenges do you see in this move as I am switching both ? Do you think I need to stay in tech industry and look for mgmt/strategic consulting positions ? Your $0.02 would really help me. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Dear sir/mam.

    I have Completed MBA/PGPM-IB
    looking For a Job in International Business
    Please Help me.
    My number is [Moderator Edit: personal data taken out]
    (willing to relocate )

    Thanks Regards
    Satish babu

    Reply
  3. Satish,

    We focus on MBA admissions consulting. So I’m afraid we won’t be able to help out with that request.

    You could search on job sites (like Naukri.com) to find relevant opportunities.

    Also, never give out personal information on a public forum. It just brings down the credibility of the request and the degree that you’ve worked so hard for.

    Good luck with the job hunt, buddy.

    Reply
  4. Hai…i am doing MBA from one average college. How can i modify my skills and how to become more innovative…as i have very good grasping skills and learning skills as well. And i would like to have interview tips as you mention in ISB placement cell..can i get all this online through some sites? Kindly suggest me. I think this is the problem of every average college student regarding MBA and other proffesional courses.

    Reply
  5. Hi,

    Do have any idea about Business Analytics course offered by ISB? They told me that they don’t provide placement assistance for this course. However, i would like to know if there are good placement chances after completing this course. Any insight around placement for this course will be really helpful.

    Reply
  6. @Anirudha: I don’t have any first hand information about the course that I can share. Sorry! You’d have to talk to the current students and alumni to see whether they found the Business Analytics course useful.

    Reply
  7. Hi,
    I have done my MCA, and worked in Software company for nearly 7 years, now I am planning to do MBA in finance. I request you to please assist me if pursuing MBA will help me in better designation and better salary?

    Reply
  8. @Jasmeet: That’s a very broad and general question. You’d need to go into specifics of what you really want from such an expensive degree. In fact, you’ll have to justify the same in your MBA essays as well.

    Reply
  9. Hi,
    I am a chartered accountant working in kolkata with 9months of work experience as senior business analsyt in hedge funds accounting and reporting. Now i am planning to do my MBA from ISB after i complete my 2years of work experience here.
    Now what i want to know is about preparation for GMAT, as my own subjects had been very different from the syllabus in GMAT.

    Reply
  10. Hi,

    I have 4 years of experience in Product development companies in India (Citrix and Amazon 2 years each). I am looking forward to a management profile
    I want to know what kind of opportunities I will have if I do my MBA at ISB or IIM. Also would like to evaluate my chances of getting in. I have a good score in GMAT but am not very good at Profile making for MBA schools. It would be great to get some advice.
    Thanks!
    Anu

    Reply
    • i am searching llewellyn desouza reviews hash mba consulting. did not find anything on web. anyone worked with him? pls tell to me.

      Reply
  11. I completed my mechanical engineering from reputed nit this year and have been placed in Tata motors which is core company for me. My cgpa is not good it’s 6.5 that is pretty low and I had several backlogs.. However I was able to get a job.. So after two years I wish to apply isb.. I want to know does my cgpa of my engineering affect me for a placement at isb… It seems placement starts soon at isb so I might not be having academic results of my Mba to show to company… And moreover I want to join consulting… I wanted to join right now.. However I couldn’t get due to my low cgpa during engineering..can I get it now may be even in startup? . And after isb it will be career switch for me from mechanical engineering at Tata motors to consulting… How can I be a consultant? That has been my dream

    Reply
  12. Hi! I am doing B.B.A. from Nit Kurukshetra. After this I want to do my M.B.A from Indian school of Business. Can anyone tell me the syllabus and the books I should refer to?

    Reply
  13. Hi, I did M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur long time ago and I have been working in a software product based company (MNC) for last 20 years, very successful in various Technical roles. I am looking for a leap growth in my career by switching from technical to Business, would like to become a VP or Sr VP kind of positions. Is it right way of thinking to pursue MBA from prestigious Institutions at this point of my life/career ? Best, Regards

    Reply
  14. Dear Sir,
    i have lot of interest to do mba in ISB,XLRI,S.P.JAIN,JAMMALAL, and FMS.but i dont know how to get admission in those colleges..now i am working in offshore oil and gas company.i planned to take MBA in 2016..now i am preparing for GMAT also..so kindly request you to pls help me for my carrier..how much score needed for getting admission in those colleges and what are the exams want to write in upcoming days..and since i have one year experience..in 2016 almost i have two years experience..so that i planned to take MBA in 2016..BUT MY DREAM IS ISB….

    thanks in advance.

    Reply
  15. @Prasad: Your thinking is on the right track, but an MBA may not help you at this stage. Due to the amount of experience you have, you’d be an outlier in the ISB class.

    @Deepak: If ISB is your dream bschool, don’t rush into applying when you aren’t ready. Gain some more experience.

    Reply

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