Only 7% colleges managed 100% placement: Report

"A majority of HR professionals, around 66 percent, indicated skill-gap to be the primary challenge in campus recruitment. They emphasised the need for colleges to revamp their curricula to better align with industry needs," Aggarwal said.

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Forty-two percent of university partners who facilitate placements said lack of preparation among students is a key reason for not securing placements despite the presence of reputable companies on campus.

Around 88 percent of HR practitioners expressed a strong preference for skill-based hiring, prioritising candidates' abilities over other factors such as experience, academics, references, internships and projects.

The technology sector dominated hiring across domains with 35 percent of total offers made. As many as 62 percent of business schools , arts, science and commerce students and 25 percent of engineering students received a job or internship offer.

“A significant chunk of engineering school graduates who did receive offers secured them specifically from the tech sector. On the other hand, out of the B-school graduates who did receive offers, only 18 percent of offers received were from the tech sector. While B-school graduates performed better in terms of offers received overall, the tech industry remains an appealing choice for many engineering school graduates,” Aggarwal said.

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Only 10 percent of students are interested in working for startups, with 45 percent of B-school students favourable to established and legacy firms. In comparison, 52 percent of engineering students expressed openness to working with any company. Marketing emerged as the top preferred domain for B-school students, while finance and analytics topped the list for arts and science students.

India's premier institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) were not part of the report.

Average salary offered

The average salary for business schools, at Rs 20 lakh per annum (LPA), was far ahead of the average salary drawn by engineering institutes which fell between Rs 6-10 LPA.

In engineering institutes, most men and women received the same average offer but there was a stark difference among arts and science students. Here, most of the men received an offer of Rs 6-10 LPA. Most women, however, received an offer of Rs 2-5 LPA — half of the offer bagged by male students.

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In B-schools, 55 percent of men received an offer of over Rs 16 LPA but only 45 percent of women received an offer above Rs 16 LPA.

Notably, the looming fear of layoffs has prompted three out of five (60 percent) students to prioritise job security over pay hikes, a stark shift in mindset. For most of them, in-hand salary remains the most valuable salary component followed by perks and benefits.

The report revealed a notable disconnect between the parties. While 91 percent of students said their college curricula offer an adequate level of preparedness for a job, 66 percent of recruiters and 42 percent of university partners said the skill gap and lack of preparation, respectively, are major challenges in campus recruitment.