APPLICATION FOR PLACEMENT MANAGER

Name : Ashraya Iyengar

Program : 3rd Year B.Tech
Department : Chemical Engineering
Roll No. : 100020019

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
I, Ashraya Iyengar, would be honoured to be a part of the Placement Team, mainly because of the sense of
satisfaction it would give me to have played an important role in shaping the futures of my peers. The
responsibility is immense, and would provide me with a very unique and enriching leadership experience.
In the institute Ive taken up challenging roles in Mood Indigo and Career Cell. As a Core Group Member for
Marketing, I contacted over 600 companies and personally handled 22 of the 60 signed sponsors which has
imbibed the ability to understand a problem from a corporate perspective and take a decision accordingly.
Primarily, I have learned how to work in a team of people with diverse perspectives, and not only bring out a
consensus, but also keep the spirits up. Apart from micromanaging all tasks from detailed planning and crisis
management, I have also learned to see the bigger picture, a larger vision.
What drives me to take up this responsibility, however, are not the similarities between my tenure as a CG and
the post of a PM. They are, in fact, the differences. Working in MI gave me the opportunity to put a smile on
peoples faces. Being a PM would give me the opportunity to impact my fellow students secure a career, which I
feel is tremendous. The IPT has a flat hierarchy. This is quite uncommon in the institute, and would perfectly
equip me for the outside world. To get a first hand experience of this would be incredible, especially with only a
year left in this institute. Also, I would like to be a part of the 'decision making' process for such a large set
stakeholders like the Students, Institute Authorities, Companies, Placement Team and be accountable for my
decisions as I believe Ill be able to simultaneously learn a lot and contribute impactfully.
I would like conclude with an assurance of my dedication & I have worked in several Institute bodies, and have
always given more than my 100% to everything I did and would never hesitate to put in extra effort and time to
exceed expectations. I strongly believe that with my reduced academic course-load, and my sincere motivation
for this post, I will put in all I have to get the work done. Not being involved with the Placement team previously,
I feel I would bring a fresh enthusiastic outlook to the table along with the desired skills and understanding of
present placement process acquired through groundwork. The exposure that I would get in this role would
enable me to grow as a person while giving back to the institute and my people. I sincerely hope I am given the
opportunity to do the same.

ACADEMICS & INTERNSHIPS

CPI 8.32
One out of two candidates selected out of 500 applicants for a summer internship at Procter & Gamble

POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Core Group Member, Marketing - MOOD INDIGO 2012

Mar 2012- Mar 2013

Successfully raised INR 20 Million in cash by meticulous planning and aggressive negotiations with more
than 100 sponsors
Signed media deals with Times of India, 9XM, RED FM, Fame Theatres, Bright Outdoor Media and
negotiated Media Deliverables whose current market worth is INR 15 Million
Revolutionized the functioning of the department by transitioning from Pure Branding model to a
Wholesome Event Integration model leading to a 10% increased inflow inspite of stagnant economy
Led a 2-tier team of 15 Coordinators and 30 Organizers to handle the complete marketing of the event
Conceptualized and led a successful multi-city marketing tour to Delhi, Bangalore and Pune

Institute Academic Council - Member (UG)

Apr 2011- Mar 2012

Founding member of the Career Cell, IIT Bombay which helps students take well-informed decisions
about their career by providing necessary resources to aid them
Worked in a team of 4 to organize a series of buddy talks and hands-on sessions by experts in each
field and benefitted more than 1000 students on campus

ACHIEVEMENTS

Qualified the KVPY Exam and Interview (SX category) conducted by IISc, Bangalore and was offered a
Scholarship to join the IISERs
Quarter-Finalist (Top 16) at the All Asia Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC), 2006 that was telecast on
SONY TV
Won the 2011-12 editions of General Quiz GC and Wolf Pack Quiz GC of IIT Bombay

GENERAL ANALYSIS OF PLACEMENTS 2012-13

The Placement Season 2012-13 at IIT Bombay saw 241 recruiting organizations in Phase 1 and 13 in Phase 2
respectively that have recruited 864 & 41 students respectively out of 1497 students that registered for placementPlacement Percentage 60.45 %. (Data as per Mar 1st on the Placement Blog for both years; PPOs NOT included)

Year

32
13

No of
Job
offers
in
Phase 2
102
41

No of
Tough
Lucks
in
Phase 2
4
1

-146.2

-148.8

-300.0

No of
companies
on Day 1

No of Job
offers on
Day 1

No of
companies
in Phase 1

No of Job
offers in
Phase 1

No of
Tough
luck's in
Phase 1

No of
companies
in Phase 2

29
34

142
160

179
241

811
864

11
19

14.7

11.3

25.7

6.1

42.1

2011-12
2012-13
% Increase

This shows that the increase in Companies in Phase did not translate into a proportional increase in jobs and also
resulted in a huge increase in Tough Lucks as compared to last year which could due to (i) Poor prep (ii) Better slots
in other IITs and fulfilling of requirement there (iii) Slump/Cautious hiring
Also, the Phase 2 performance has been below expectations and much lesser than last year. (i) Partly due to some of
last years Phase 2 companies coming in Phase 1(FinIQ, Verchaska, Prudential, etc) (ii) Less planning and vision for
Phase 2 companies, jobs and prep for unplaced students (iii) No PSU recruitment till now
Comparison day wise distribution of students placed in 2012-13 and 2011-12:
Day

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

2012-13

160

90

82

75

36

61

71

23

33

52

29

35

12

26

14

51

2011-12

142

104

72

90

70

55

63

55

15

10

34

27

30

We see a dip in no of job offers on Day 5 partly due to the slot merger that happened and partly no-show of
companies. We can accommodate more companies on Day 5 & 6 and push core companies earlier.
The % Placements for programs of Ph.D is 17.56%, for 2 Year M.Sc is 19.17% and M.Des is 27.7% which is alarmingly
low. Out of this, the low M.Des stats could be due to high selectiveness of the students in signing JAFs and poor
coordination between the IDC DPCs and IPT.

Major changes/initiatives/achievements that were implemented this year were as follows:

Policy (i) Salary bar increase of 50k in categorization (ii)10 compulsory Insti-level incentive points for more JAFs
CCL It replaced the old CCM which was too bulky and slow. It facilitated effective tracking and filtered searching
of companies. We need to add the functionality of having a new tracker every year for a JAF without deleting old
one. It will help in knowledge transfer if needed in the future.
Prep Blog Was started with the much-needed objective of having all departments access the best of each others
prep along other resources. Content addition and more awareness will help enhance the utility of the Prep Blog.
JAF ratings: Was started to consider student perception of the JAF and company. Helped in slotting of companies.
Chit system for attendance Replaced the old paper-pen-sheet signing system of attendance to avoid the major
student proxy problem. Was successful but loophole exists in form excess chits reaching non-attending students.
2-Tier PPT attendance policy Was very effective in ensuring sufficient attendance for all PPTs. We can also
consider differentiating on basis of Program to arrive at the min attendance required ie. Less for PGs than UGs
Absence of PSUs in Phase 1 Due to the stay order on campus recruitment issued by the court. Contacting
process has now begun in Phase 2 after vacation of stay order. This will hopefully result in around 50 job offers
Deferred Placement Policy Was launched to encourage students to work on their start-up after graduating
with a safety cushion allowing to sit for placements after 2 years, in case of failure of the start-up. Only 1 person
applied this year and was rejected. A DPP Demystified session should be organized in April whose video can be
recorded & publicized through IIT-BBC on the Prep/Placement Blog along with an Insight article explaining DPP
Event Team: Group of CCs and DPCs were assigned to execute PPTs, tests, etc.
Standard Operating Procedures: Were prepared to help CC, DPCs get acquainted with the systems. Need to be
enhanced to include instructions to avoid PPTs unless absolutely needed
Scheduling Software: It used for the initial days of Phase 1. Had limited utility for Round 2 onwards of interviews
for Day 1. There is a need to link all the individual modules of software and completely automate it along with
rigourous testing in the summers itself.
New recruiters: Some of them were Blackstone(1st from Private Equity sector), Roland Berger, Essex Lake
(Consults), Samsung (Korea), etc

 Placement Team: (i) Merging of PT Cell and Placement Cell (ii) Had a CC for CTARA for the 1st time (iii) No of
APCs was increased to 7, which helped immensely during Phase 1 & conducting PPTs and tests
Specializations: Ph.D Nano Technology & DD Energy Engineering were added for Placements this year

New initiatives

Preparation:
Question Bank: Accumulating a bank of 1000 questions for Moodle Tests for Quant and Apti. Random 10 or
20 questions will come from the database. Automatic variation of values of in the question creating unique test
experience for students. Similar initiation for Core Prep & other genres which can be built up over time
Test Rating Questionnaire: To be present at the end of each Moodle Test (which isnt from the Question Bank),
which sends feedback to PMs automatically which will help in DPC review and accountability
Assessment Organizations: Bring 3-4 Assessment Organizations simultaneously rather than just 2 and offer
variety to the students. The report (excluding percentiles and benchmarking) to be sent to student in 10 days.
Percentile can be sent once everyones testing is over. Groups of 2-3 DPCs will co-ordinate each activity
Prep Blog Revamp: (i) To have both Text and Audio-Visual content with more emphasis on the latter as
students tend to skip pure text prep resources (ii) A database of companies, feedback about the prep needed
for it along with Day-in-a-life-of-a-X job series, exit options, etc (iii) Videos and written content on Soft skills
(iv) Videos of Mock Interviews and their analysis, (v) Prep blog will have best of moodle tests and other prep
of depts (vi) Minutes and videos of all Refresher talks by Profs in the dept and buddy talks
Core Weekend and Non-Core weekend: In collaboration with SARC and Career Cell. To have talks and
interactive sessions followed by free resume review sessions (On Pre-registration). Core Weekend specially
targeted for PGs. Groups of 2-3 DPCs will co-ordinate each such activity enhancing their work profile.
PMs & DPCs to plan for prep for unplaced students in Phase 2 during Phase 1 itself.
IT/Web/Interface/Design
Initiate the Web & Design team selection in April with PIC approval and initiate planned work in summer itself
Redesign the visual look of the website with Web and Design team and give it a more professional look
Rework the code for appending header in PDF resumes. 10% resumes fail to upload currently due to poor code
Initiate analytics on origin of a request on our portal. Will help us plan and target companies accordingly. Also,
boost Search Engine Optimization(SEO) of the placement website so we appear at the top of every search
Automatic crediting of incentive points of Moodle Tests as the same LDAP authentication is present on Moodle
and Placement Interface
Mirror website and back-up server for Placement Blog to counter unexpected crashes like this year
Get the brochures ready in the summers. Push for an Info-Graphic brochure rather than a text intensive one
Procedure and Execution
SMS App for PPT and prep activity attendance using TxtWeb. Student to SMS LDAP Id, Password, Chit
code to 9266592665 and get confirmation attendance being marked. Chits to have expiry time of 3-4 hours.
On JAF filling by company, Rashmi Maam to get a mail automatically to initiate JAF verification. Her interface
will show a Requests tab in which if she approves the JAF, a mail is sent to concerned people automatically
(i)Confirmation of slot to companies only after they confirm Additional requirements like No of rounds,
duration, no of panels, etc (ii) Entering of Jobs offers by companies directly on the portal on the same day itself
As soon as CC/DPC books a PPT/Workshop on the interface, Das sir and Rao sir will get a mail automatically
with Expected Venue capacity, date, etc to book venue and get security clearance.
Will take help of Foreign Language Instructors on campus through Intl Relations Secretary for Mail drafts and
call drafts to help us reach the right person and to sensitise ourselves about small cultural differences
Premium LinkedIn account solely for lead generation. No invitation requests to companies will be sent.
Knowledge bank for IPT, will feature CCs feedback and insights about a company(much crisper than CCM)
which couple with CCL tracking can help in efficient Knowledge Transfer
Increase synergy between Intern and Placement team by accumulating a database of companies where
students have interned on their own at end of 2nd and 3rd year through the ICs and contacting them
A strongly worded mail can be sent from PIC to companies strictly banning Spot-offers and unethical practices
Team Dynamics
The current structure is optimum and there isnt much need for change apart from forming the team before
endsems and increasing the number of CCs to increase the companies contacted to match upto the number of
students to be placed & increase representation from IDC, M.Sc, M.Phil and IDPs in the IPT subject to quality
Will implement a Fine and Treat account system for lateness and missing any assigned duty.
Will try to have more CCs who have knowledge of foreign languages subject to quality
Many of the above mentioned initiatives address issues at a micro-level. There is scope and need for a few macrolevel initiatives to be taken up as well, eg: Improving the scenario for technical jobs. If chosen as PM, I'd like to
assess the viability of such initiatives after a thorough pro-con analysis before taking a decision.

CASE STUDY: START-UP CLUSTER

Before studying start-ups as a potential avenue for jobs, we would need to define which companies can be
classified as start-ups. This has to done to help channelize our efforts and resources
Technically, any company which has not had an IPO can be classified as a start-up. However, such a definition
is too broad and will not help us reach out to companies optimally. For the most optimal work, the IPO companies
can be a part of the regular company hunting and contacting due to their presence in news of the IPO. According
to me we should restrict dedicated efforts of a start-up cluster to companies satisfying the following parameters
1. Years of operation: Less than 3-4 years
2. Funding/Valuation: Having some level of funding atleast at the Angel level
3. Turnover: Less than 50 crores (analogous for Foreign companies after adjusting for Purchasing Parity)
4. No of offices: Atmost 2 offices [Dependent criteria, shouldnt be a decision maker]
If a company is not being categorized a start-up just because of 1 or 2 of these reasons, then a subjective call will
have to be taken by the PM leading the cluster
Some of the start-ups which have visited IIT Bombay satisfying the above parameters (not an exhaustive list)
Company
My Likes
SnapStick
Pristine- Neev Knowledge
Management
Loylty Reward

Sector
IT/ Software
IT/ Software
IT/ Software

Category
C1
C1
C3

No of Job offers
5
2
2

Phase and Day and Slot

Phase1, Day 2 Slot 2
Phase1, Day 4 Slot 1
Phase 1, Day 10

C2

Phase 1, Day 5

Coupon Dunia
Loud Cloud Systems
Ophio
RelyOn Solar
Play Games24x7 Pvt. Ltd
Simav Solutions Pvt Ltd
BIZense Technologies
Plancess
BeeHyv Software
Housing.co.in

JAF 1 - IT/ Software

JAF 2 - Analytics
IT/ Software
IT/ Software
IT/ Software
Core R&D
IT/ Software
IT/ Software
Non Core - R & D
2 JAFs of Analytics
IT/ Software
IT/ Software

C2
C4
C3
C4
C4
C4
C4
C4 & C5
C5
C1

1
1
Tough Luck
1
1
2
2
1
1
2

Phase 1, Day 7
Phase 1, Day 7
Phase 1, Day 8
Phase 1, Day 9
Phase 1, Day 10
Phase 1, Day 12
Phase 1, Day 15
Phase 1, Day 15
Phase 1, Day 16
Phase 2, Jan12

iRageCapital Advisory

2 JAFs of Finance

C1

Phase 2, Feb 1

Distribution of Start-ups Sector wise

that have come for placements to IIT-B

Some of the other sectors which can visit IIT-B are

1. Energy/ Clean Tech
2. Education
3. Service Industry
4. Healthcare
5. Social
6. Boutique Consultancy
The common profiles offered by start-ups and the
relevant sectors are:
1. Coding All sectors
2. Operations E-Commerce, Service Industry,etc
3. Core Energy, Cleantech, R & D, etc
4. Analyst - Analytics, Finance, Consultancy,etc

Identifying credible start-ups:

Funding Stages of a start-up in India
1. Bootstrapping Stage : 50,000 to 5 Lakhs
2. Angel Investors: 5 Lakhs to 1 Crore
3. Venture Captialists : 1 Crore and higher
i. Series A : 1 Crore to 30 Crores(approx)
ii. Series B: 5-10 times the Series A funding
iii. Series C: 5-10 times the Series B funding
4. Initial Public Offer(IPO)
Credibility Check:
Bootstrapping stage start-ups do not have a clear vision of their product and do not have the monetary
resources to hire new employees
VC funded start-ups are better avenues to find jobs than angel invested start-ups. Plus they can better
compensation and more number of jobs and have a higher level of job security than an angel funded start-up
Amount of funding and/or VC Valuation (Funding of INR 20 Crore plus can be taken as a good measure)
We need to consider, credentials of founders- (i) Alumnus of a premier institution (ii) Job Experience of
founders. The stronger the credentials of the founders, higher the credibility of the start-up
We can see if they are being or were incubated by an incubating organiztion
We can consider if they have recruited at anywhere else till now and how has the experience been
Plan of Action for Efficiently tackling this cluster: (To be executed along with Definition match and credibility
check, in the order below)
[No in brackets below are no. of start-ups they have funded]
1. Firstly, focus on VC firms in India like Sequoia Capital(35), Seed Fund(24), Reliance Venture(18), Nexus
Ventures(39), etc; collaborate with E-Cell to contact VCs and through them VC funded start-ups that are
looking to recruit in the near future.
Whats in it for VCs:Each of these firms has a stake in the start-up and hence a vested interest in
ensuring that the start-ups they funded have access to the best talent.
2. Once Step 1 is done, approach for Angel Investment firms like Indian Angel Network(29), Mumbai
Angels(45), etc (Same motivation as VCs for them to help us)
3. Parallely, we can approach websites through E-Cell like yourstory.in(5029)or pluggd.in which maintain
databases of start-ups in India, to help filter out start-ups on basis on Funding, good business model,
credibility, possible willingness to recruit, etc and help us get in touch with them
Whats in it for them:Each of these websites looks for content from start-ups & having helped the start-ups
secure good talent, they increase goodwill and can open a much better communication channel with them
4. Parallely, contact start-ups founded by IIT-B alumni in collaboration with E-Cell and SARC who are in
process of compiling such a list. Their credibility and probability of coming to recruit is higher than the
average star-up.
5. Approaching Incubators like Morpheus, Hatch, etc to see if there are any credible start-ups which we have
missed by the above 3 steps
Whats in it for Incubators:Each of these firms has a stake in the start-up and hence a vested interest in
ensuring that the start-ups they incubated have access to the best talent
6. Approaching, organizations like TiE and NEN to cover any possible start-ups we have missed out by the
above 3 steps
Policy Change: To be fair to all the companies, we need not accommodate start-ups with special policy changes as
we have already have a good distribution of start-ups across categories (C1,C2,etc) and that too right from Day 2
to Phase 2. However, a very thorough referendum can taken amongst the Pre-final and Graduating batch on
whether they would want to work at start-ups, their aspirations of seeing start-ups in the placement line up at
IIT Bombay ,etc and the policy changes can be effected accordingly in-sync with the referendum results.