Summer internships a misty world for B-school students

Summer internships a misty world for B-school students

PUNE: While the rest of the world is vacationing in exotic locations in summer, management students sweat it out on unfamiliar terrain as corporate interns.

Management courses make it mandatory for students to get first-hand experience of the corporate world from May to July, but with colleges giving more importance to final placements, clueless candidates often struggle to find suitable companies to intern with, and bumble through the training.

Colleges have their sights set on final placements, as it affects their overall ranking and, thus, the fresh intake, leaving students alone in the internship universe. Even if they do stumble upon an internship offer, students struggle with their CVs, lacking the skills required to sell themselves to potential trainers.

A questionnaire sent to nine companies that posted internship vacancies showed a selection rate of a mere 1.05% of the total applicants (see table).

“It is up to the students to find internships for themselves. Our focus is on getting placements after they graduate,” a training and placement officer at a Bangalore business school who did not wish to be named, said.

Training and placement officers at seven B-schools in Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi that ET spoke to reluctantly admitted to a poor placement scene for summer internships. One placement officer from a Pune B-school even said there was no mandate from the management on internships.

“Finding placements takes up a lot of our time, with repeated follow-ups. Even after that, students do not get placed. We do not have the time to find internships,” he said.

B-schools take the convenient line here, considering students are not clued in to internships while seeking admission — they are more concerned with the MNCs that call on campuses for placements. Moreover, internships are primarily available in start-ups, something students are themselves ignorant about, and are not a selling point for B-schools either.

But the students are not taking too kindly to the fact that their institutes neglect them when they need them the most, considering they pay a good Rs 8-10 lakh for management courses. “We are not told why we need to have a good summer internship, what it will teach us or other benefits like helping us in our final placement. Our college tells us we have to do a summer internship, that’s all,” says a student at a Pune school.

Another student said his college told him an internship was necessary to get a project report done if he had to clear the course. “I had no idea, nor did my faculty tell me it would help me get placed in the company after my course was over,” he said.

Internships give both students and companies a chance to evaluate each other. Often, they also result in pre-placement offers, but not too many institutes or students seem to care. “A summer internship provides the best platform for students to test what they have learnt in the classroom. Unfortunately, many students regard it as a formality,” says Krishnaiah TS, founder-CEO, Emponix, a start up that facilitates discounts for customers at partner outlets.

Most institutes, he adds, are not worried about imparting quality learning to their students either. “They concentrate on final placements, forgetting that a good summer internship will enhance their chances of a better final placement,” he says.

Sanjay Srinivas, CEO of Chequered Flag Entertainment Company, sums up the prospective employer’s dilemma: “It is rare to find an ideal CV or candidates who fit our requirements. So we settle for the next best.”

Many students don’t stretch their limits either, and are even willing to pay for a project report and certificate, says Yogesh Udgire, director, Rishi Biotech, a Mumbai-based training company in life science IT, bioinformatics, biotechnology and clinical data management.

“Every year, a large number of MBA students graduate with no work experience, fundamental knowledge or the requisite skills. They take on internships more out of compulsion than their desire to learn more about the corporate world,” he adds.

Start-ups are more than willing to take on interns, for the freshness of ideas they bring in. “Being a start-up we prefer to work with interns, as they are full of spirit, willing to learn and cost effective. We explore new business models and launch pilot activities with them,” says Surjyadeb Goswami, co-founder, MyWebERA.com, a platform for painters, animators and gamers.

Source Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/Summer-internships-a-misty-world-for-B-school-students/articleshow/5874874.cms