Engineering Placements 2016: Less US Job Opportunities for IIT-B Students

At the ongoing campus placement season of IIT Bombay, few offers are pouring in from MNCs for positions abroad, for instance in USA, as compared to its counterparts IIT Kharagpur and IIT Guwahati.

However, surprisingly, the number of United States based companies visiting the campus of IIT-B for recruitments has remained the same. While sharing the information, Professor in charge of placements, Tom Matthew said that by the end of Monday, 5th December 2016, more than five offers for international positions had come and all the offers were from Japan.

Also Read: Microsoft Offers 70 Jobs to IITians this Placement Season

As per the official information, no jobs in the USA had been offered. On the other hand, a section of the students said they had been informed informally by the companies that few positions are based out of the USA as well.

Many students affirmed that the number of US-based offers was fewer. A student from the placement team said that due to difficulty in getting work visas, several US-based companies like Facebook had withdrawn from the placement season this year.

Also Read: IIMA Summer Placements: Amazon, Accenture, Tata Group Among Top Recruiters

Experts attribute several factors to the low presence of US companies in the placement season. Among them are -

• Fear for impending uncertainty in US economic policies
• Effect of the recent US elections
• US Government set to change its economic and foreign policies
• For fear of retrieval, companies are cautious to not make offers
• Last years' bitter experiences of the startups
• IITs strict stand in the context of startups

Significantly, the number of offers from Taiwanese and Japanese firms had increased phenomenally. Yahoo Japan has alone made six offers in IIT Bombay. Konica Minolta and NTT Communications are other Japanese firms that have recruited engineering students. Besides that, several Public Sector Undertakings (PSU), have also lined up to recruit from IIT-B this year. For instance, as per reports, ONGC has made eight offers so far.