SPJIMR completes autumns internship process for the PGDM batch of 2021 in virtual mode

Kolkata: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has closed the autumn placements for its two-year full time PGDM programme’s Class of 2021, becoming the first management institute in the country to complete the process in the midst of a pandemic.

The autumns season this year ran on a virtual campus recruitment model that was quickly put in place after the pandemic caused by the COVID19 virus forced a temporary closure of the campus and raised new uncertainties because of the lockdown and a dampened business outlook.

The SPJIMR autumns internship process saw participation from 88 recruiters, who cumulatively rolled out over 268 offers for 236 participants from the PGDM Class of 2021 across industries like BFSI, e-commerce, FMCGs, pharmaceuticals and consulting.

The key highlight of the season was the pioneering virtual recruitment process that was handled across a combination of platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Cisco WebEx and Amazon Chime. Real-world systems and processes like group discussions and interview panels were replicated virtually through unique features across the different platforms.

The batch of 236 at SPJIMR was also the first to complete the specialisation semester of the PGDM Year 2 online, helping the students acquaint with the features of the various online platforms. The Institute and student bodies arranged faculty sessions, mock group discussions and interviews to facilitate the ease of transition to the new recruitment model.

The season saw 61 new recruiters, which included Allianz Investment Management, Invesco Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential AMC and Prione.

SPJIMR Dean and Professor of Marketing Dr. Ranjan Banerjee said, “This is a commendable performance in a difficult year.”

FMCG and e-commerce continued to be the most dominant sectors in terms of the number of hires with 33% and 15% of the participants placed in these sectors respectively.

The median compensation for offers with stipends for the two-month internship clocked in at Rs 2.40 lakh with the average stipend rising above Rs 2.01 lakh More than 60% of the batch received offers of Rs 2 lakh and above.

The autumns placements process is a SPJIMR innovation, which enables participants to take up an internship after they have completed a rural internship and specialisation courses at SPJIMR.